There is a new song out called The Weary Kind. It is the theme tune from Crazy Heart, the movie with Jeff Bridges that won him best actor this year. I really like this song, The Weary Kind. It hits home in this sin-filled world. Life is full of weary souls. And some of these worn out people are Christians. The Christ-filled life shouldn’t be this way.
Why is there so much weariness both in and outside of the church?
I believe the answer is sin, but if you are the weary kind of Christian, before you take this to heart, let me say that it may not be your own sin wearying you. Other people’s sins can steal our strength and crush our spirits the same as our own sin can if we allow it.
When I became a Christian, I eagerly embraced the church. I mean this in a broad sense: Jesus’ church, all my brothers and sisters in Christ, not just the church I attend down the road. Jesus said we are all parts of one body. I joined my new body with great expectations. It took awhile to discover that, like me, my new body wasn’t perfect.
In time, I realized I’d become the weary kind of Christian. How this happened, I wasn’t quite sure, but the one thing I could definitely put my finger on was sin. Sin in the body was discouraging me.
Unfortunately, many Christians live the same way the world lives. The only way you can tell the person is a Christian is because they say they are a Christian and they take part in the church body. We could argue here over whether or not this kind of Christian is really a Christian. Some may be saved, many probably are not. The Bible says that those who love the Lord, obey Him. But even true Christians sin. Some sin badly.
People let us down. It’s the nature of the beast: we will all battle the flesh till our dying day. Some Christians fight harder than others to overcome their sinful ways. The mistake I made that brought on my weariness was having my eyes on those Christians mired in sin. Sin affects others. There is no way to sin alone. The whole body suffers when one member sins. Thank goodness the Bible says that love covers a multitude of sins.
We can learn a lot from the heroes of the Bible. I love how in the desert with about two million back-sliders, Moses, when he grew weary, cried, “Lord, show me your glory!”
Moses rarely looked for help from people. And usually he didn’t bother to correct God’s straying folks, either. He simply went straight to the source of life, God, and said each time he was worn out, “Show me your glory!”
God’s glory is what renewed Moses.
Habakkuk the prophet had it hard, but he too found his strength in God.
Because of the sin of God’s people, God raised up the Babylonians, a dreaded and fearsome nation, to come against Israel in Habakkuk’s time. But here was Habakkuk’s response, “O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy” Habakkuk 3:2.
The book of Habakkuk ends with the prophet rejoicing in the Lord, though his country was crumbling. He talks about the crops failing, no food to eat, and the flock being cut off from the fold, but yet Habakkuk says, “I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places” Habakkuk 3:18-19.
An important thing to remember that Moses, Habakkuk, and nearly all the heroes of the Bible have in common is that they prayed for God’s sinful people. They pleaded with God for mercy. They wanted God’s people healed, not cast out of the fold and destroyed.
Most encouraging of all, here is what Jesus said about the weary kind, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28.