by Matt Kick
Editor’s Note: After a recent phone call with my friend Matt Kick, he directed me to this article he recently wrote on fighting discouragement with faithfulness. I appreciate the word picture he uses and his concise advice. I think this will encourage you.
Fighting Discouragement with Faithfulness
The Christian life is not easy. For any Christian, extreme discouragement can settle in, and we can begin to be tempted to forget our purpose. When this happens, how do we begin to discover the joys of following Christ again. I would suggest that one of the ways is reminding ourselves of the things that God does for us that we never see.
Don’t forget to water
When I was in college, I thought it would be funny to buy a plant with a friend. Neither of us ever expected the plant to last more than a couple of weeks, but it was something to do. Ironically, the life of that plant has far exceeded my expectation, but not without bumps in the road. This plant over the years has visually expressed the difficulties that I have faced. Let me explain.
When I bought it, was fresh and a new plant. I watered it, and it thrived. However shortly after I got married, during a stressful season of life, I forgot the plant outside during a large storm. It was blown over, the pot broke, some of the branches were broken, and I was sure that the plant was going to die. This was a wake up call to bring the plant inside and nurture it. Slowly the tree began to sprout new branches and came back to life.
Then during a more recent difficult season of life, I forgot the plant outside during a frost. This time the plant lost all signs of life, and it even started showing signs of decay. For a while I just let the tree sit there like it would just start healing itself. The obvious result was that nothing changed. Then one day, someone watered the plant for me. In fact, they continued to do so every day. For weeks I did not even know that this going on. Then something beautiful happened, the tree began to sprout new life.
This new life however was not in the location that I thought it would be. I imagined new branches at the top of the tree, but there was a tiny sprout at the bottom of the tree. So I finally took the time to to cut away all the dead branches, even the top part of the tree that was dead. After doing this, more shoots began to sprout at the bottom of the tree. So I researched the plant and the branches at the bottom are seedlings. The tree in its time of health had lasted long enough and grown to a place of maturity to where it could produce additional plants from within itself.
Here’s the point: one of the ways that we endure the difficult times in life is to be reminded of our purpose. We as believers were meant to reproduce other Christ followers. Sometimes this is an unseen impact. Sometimes we truly do not know how God has used our faithfulness to impact the people around us. However, be encouraged that your Christian walk was not in vain. God perfectly used you, an imperfect person, to perfect the people around you.
Your Faithfulness Matters
The first thing I would remind those that are struggling is the Christian life was not meant to be lived alone. When you are in that difficult season, seek help. Do not ignore the rot like it is so easy to do. Find someone to speak truth into your life. We get weary; I get it. The burden can become very heavy; I know. This is where the amazing truth of Galatians 6:2 comes in. You do not have to carry your heavy alone. There are people ready and willing to to pour into your life. Sometimes, you just need to seek out this relationship.
Secondly address the decay. There may be pain and hurt needed to be worked through. Anger and bitterness will need to be addressed. Do not just ignore it thinking it will get better. Instead, take biblical steps to remove the deadly habits, choices, thoughts, and feelings that are plaguing your life. Ephesians 4:22 teaches to take off the former way of life. Like old branches or ratty clothes, remove what is dead and live clothed in biblical life-giving truths.
Finally, remind yourself in times of discouragement that God uses, has used, and will continue to your faithfulness to impact the lives of the people around you. This has been a joy to me as I have begun to see the unseen impact on people that I interacted with before suffering began. This has been a great reminder to myself that God is on the move and He is not done using people for His purposes.
Just as Paul reminds Philemon, do not forget that your life matters to others around you. Your decisions to obey matter. Your faithfulness makes an impact on those around you, especially when you are discouraged. Although you may never get to have the blessing of observing the total impact on other’s lives, know this, part of God’s glorious plan is to show His majesty by using imperfect people like you to perfect people for His glory.
Friend, if you are discouraged today, remember the example of my poorly treated tree. When I nurtured and watered it, great things began to happen again out of the decay. Therefore, remember 1) Life was not meant to be lived alone; contact someone, 2) Address the decay, work on becoming more like Christ, and 3) remember God uses people just like you, even when you do not see the total impact.
Fight discouragement with greater faithfulness to the glory of God.
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Image Credit Markus Winkler
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