The children of God always have something more to give. We have more to give. Always.
Often, I find myself at the outer limits of what I can possibly do. Overwhelmed, at the responsibilities and deadlines that I’ve somehow agreed to.
It’s not just that. There’s also the ever-present call on my life as a follower of Jesus. In this regard, it always feels like there is more I could be doing. So much I’m not doing, that I should be.
I have weeks where it compounds. Where it all seems to come at once. It’s a wonder that I make it out the other end.
It was in the middle of one of these weeks that I had the revelation. I have more to give.
More. To give
I love the seeming contradictions that pop up as you live a life of faith in Christ. It’s the contrast between our weakness and his abundant strength, his provision and our desperate need that cause me to go ‘Wow’!
So it really shouldn’t have been a surprise that it was when I was at the end of my tether that this revelation came. You’ve got more to give.
What! I’ve got nothing left. I’m barely coping with this- how can you ask for more?
You have more to give.
This had me stumped for a while, but I was about to become even more confused.
A verse that kept coming up
One of my friends highlighted a verse on the Bible App, and for some reason it stood out to me. I say, for some reason, because I couldn’t see how the verse related to me at all.
Isaiah chapter 40, verse 29 says, He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might he increases strength.
It seemed like God wanted me to get something from it, but I didn’t feel weak. Funny.
I read it in my son’s devotional that evening. It was in my readings later that week. Soon it became obvious that God was trying to tell me something, but what?
The unlocking of the mystery
It was a week later that I finally got it. I was on my treadmill, watching my ‘watch later’ list on YouTube.
As I ran, a man appeared on the small screen in front of me who began speaking about fasting. A Danish man, whose video title had caught my attention, was explaining the concept of fasting in such practical ways, that all my reasons for why I’d never really given this spiritual discipline much of a go, began to unravel.
Connecting the dots
I had felt strong. I felt capable of all that I thought was expected of me in life. I’d been through some rough times, but I’d got through them and it was beginning to feel like I’d made it in life.
Yet, here I was, confronted with a verse about God empowering the weak. I didn’t feel weak!
But God wanted more.
He has more for me to do. Life wasn’t about me reaching a place of comfort and security. Even in Him.
He wanted me to do the impossible. I was fine, but He was asking the questions I wanted to avoid.
“What about those that don’t know me?” “What about those I want to heal?” “What about the imprisoned, the lonely and the hungry?”
I began to feel weak. Those are jobs too big for me.
And that’s the point. God wants me to feel my own inability for what he really wants me to do, so that He can reveal His power through me.
So He gets the glory.
Fasting is where it starts- my first step. Time to take my new understanding and make it real. To really feel how much I need Him- in everything.
Even in the mundane chores that seem to fill my weeks to capacity. I think He wants me to learn reliance on Him with these too. Aren’t these are just as much what he wants me to do as the apparently more supernatural, miraculous works?
Is it possible to achieve more of eternal significance, while at the same time, know increased peace and rest? Here again is the contradiction of our Christian life.
Tom likes Indian spices, French cars, British drama and Japanese gardens. He goes running nearly everyday, but early in the morning so that he doesn't miss time with his wife and two young kids. In his spare time, Tom is a Special Needs and Technology teacher.
Tom’s other articles can be found at https://www.pressserviceinternational.org/tom-anderson.html
Tom Anderson is pioneering www.haventogether.com, an online church plant supported by his in-person church, Catalyst, Ipswich. He has a young, growing family and enjoys playing backyard sport. Tom is a keen long-distance runner, averaging 21km each day last year. He has worked as a teacher for eleven years and enjoys perfecting a flat white on his home espresso machine. Tom would welcome a visit for a coffee some time… or an online catch-up via Zoom. See the Haven Together website to get in touch.
