“What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’” (Mark 13:37)
We each need to pay attention. So many things happen seemingly by chance, and we become anxious, worrying about things that are beyond our control. There are things we can do. So far as it concerns you, treat all things that happen with intentionality, deliberately making the right choices for what you do. Do not just react, but follow the guidance of the Lord and do so with the intent the Holy Spirit gives you.
Lord, I often do amble along, and do not pay attention to what is happening around me. Guide me to live into the life You have given me knowing that in You alone is there a true future, which is forever. Lead me into the life You are offering me and to do so with intentionality and deliberation upon the things that I do. Guide me, Lord, into all goodness knowing that You provide all that is needed.
Thank You Lord Jesus for pointing out the things I could be doing. Lead me to live intentionally, seeking what is right and fitting for each situation. Help me, I pray, to see what I need to see and to be alert to what is happening around me. You have shown me that my faith is not a blind reaction, but a series of intentional things given by you. Help me to live a life that is alert to what is happening around me. Amen.
I appreciated Jeffray Greene’s devotion on Mark 13:37 and found much wisdom in his call for Christians to live intentionally and remain spiritually alert. His reminder that our faith is not merely a reaction to circumstances but a life guided by the Holy Spirit is both timely and encouraging. As I reflected on his words, however, I found myself considering a question that many Christians, especially those who have walked with Christ for decades, may wrestle with from time to time. How do we faithfully hold together the many biblical calls to trust, watch, pray, rest, persevere, and remain alert without becoming spiritually exhausted? The following reflection grew out of that question and out of gratitude for the conversation Jeffray’s devotion prompted.
Carried by Christ: When the Christian Life Feels Exhausting
Many Christians know the feeling. We are told to trust God completely. Then we are told to be alert and watchful. We are told not to worry about tomorrow. Then we are warned about temptation, false teaching, and the dangers of this world. We are told to rest in Christ, yet we are also told to pray, serve, repent, study Scripture, and remain faithful.
For some believers, especially as they mature in the faith, it can begin to feel like a spiritual ping-pong match. One moment we are told to rest. The next moment we are told to be vigilant. One moment we hear that salvation is God’s gift. The next moment we hear warnings about falling away. The result can be confusion and even exhaustion.
Was Christianity really meant to feel this way?
From a Lutheran perspective, the answer is no. Much of this exhaustion comes when we lose sight of the proper distinction between Law and Gospel.
Martin Luther called the distinction between Law and Gospel the highest art in Christendom. The Law tells us what God commands. The Gospel tells us what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
The Law says:
• Be alert.
• Watch and pray.
• Love your neighbor.
• Resist temptation.
• Turn away from sin.
These commands are good and necessary. They reveal God’s holy will for our lives.
The Gospel says:
• Christ died for your sins.
• Christ has risen from the dead.
• You are justified by grace through faith.
• Your sins are forgiven.
• You belong to Christ.
These promises reveal what God has done for us, apart from our works.
Problems arise when Christians begin to treat God’s commands as conditions for earning or keeping salvation. Instead of hearing the Law as guidance for the redeemed life, they begin to hear it as a list of requirements that must be fulfilled in order to remain in God’s favor.
When this happens, the Christian’s focus slowly shifts from Christ to self.
The questions begin to pile up.
Am I trusting enough?
Am I praying enough?
Am I vigilant enough?
Am I worried too much?
Am I not concerned enough?
Am I doing enough for God?
This kind of self-examination can quickly become a heavy burden. Instead of finding peace in Christ, believers become trapped in a constant effort to measure their spiritual performance.
Luther knew this struggle well.
Before the Reformation, he devoted himself completely to religious discipline. He fasted, prayed, confessed his sins, and pursued every spiritual exercise available to him. Yet the more he focused on his own efforts, the less peace he found.
Everything changed when Luther came to understand the Gospel. Through his study of Romans, he discovered that righteousness is not something we achieve but something God gives through faith in Christ.
As St. Paul writes:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
Salvation does not rest upon the strength of our faith, the perfection of our obedience, or the consistency of our spiritual disciplines. It rests upon the finished work of Jesus Christ.
This understanding helps us make sense of passages that seem to pull us in opposite directions.
Jesus says:
“Do not be anxious about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34).
Yet Peter writes:
“Be sober-minded; be watchful” (1 Peter 5:8).
At first glance these verses may seem contradictory. They are not.
Jesus is addressing anxiety. Peter is addressing vigilance.
Christians are not called to live in fear because God is in control. At the same time, Christians are called to remain spiritually awake because evil is real.
The believer therefore lives neither in panic nor in carelessness.
A simple way to summarize the Christian life is this:
Trust God completely.
Do your duty faithfully.
Leave the results to Him.
This is not a formula for earning salvation. It is the fruit of faith in Christ.
The Lutheran Confessions remind us that faith itself is God’s gift. Luther expresses this beautifully in his explanation to the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed:
“I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel.”
These words are deeply comforting because they remind us that even our faith is not ultimately our own achievement. The Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith through the means of grace—the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments.
This means the Christian life is far simpler than many people imagine.
We begin each day remembering our Baptism.
We hear God’s Word.
We pray.
We serve in the vocations God has given us as husbands, wives, parents, grandparents, workers, neighbors, and members of Christ’s Church.
When we sin, we repent.
When we fail, we return to Christ.
When we are weary, we rest in His promises.
The center of the Christian life is not our performance. The center is Christ.
The Church does believers no service when it gives the impression that salvation depends upon maintaining a perfect balance between effort and rest, vigilance and peace, obedience and trust. Such a view inevitably leads to exhaustion.
The Gospel points us somewhere else.
It points us to Jesus
The Christian is alert because Christ has saved him.
The Christian is not anxious because Christ has saved him.
The Christian repents because Christ has saved him.
The Christian serves because Christ has saved him.
The Christian perseveres because Christ has saved him.
The foundation never changes.
The burden of maintaining salvation does not rest on our shoulders. It rests on Christ’s shoulders. Our task is not to carry Him. Our task is to be carried by Him.
That is the freedom, comfort, and certainty found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As Jesus Himself says, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
In Christ,
Paul Flemming