Real Hope: WearinessSample

The Bible And Banksy

There’s a great quote attributed to the street artist Banksy: ‘If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.’ It suggests there’s a difference between giving up what you’re doing and learning to rest. There’s a difference between resting and stopping.

Often when we feel tired of all we have to do, think about and deal with, we want to escape. We want to hide in a hole and not have to deal with it. But, if Banksy is to be believed, that’s not the key to rest.

The Bible agrees with Banksy on this. Galatians 6:9 says, ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ In the daily journey of being devoted to living like Jesus, we can absolutely find ourselves feeling weary of putting others first, serving, doing the right thing, or, as Paul puts it, ‘doing good.’ But he encourages us to not become weary in doing good because there’s a harvest to come from it. There’s a purpose to the obedience and honour we show God every day. We may not know what this fruit will be, but I know that I’ve seen how God has used times of ‘hard slog’ for His glory to shape and grow me. I’m sure you can think of times when you’ve seen God work through your obedience and efforts to ‘do good.’

So how do we continue in these times of weariness? If Banksy (and the Bible) is to be believed, we find a way to rest – not to give up. Instead, we go to the one who invites us to give Him our burdens and has already carried them all the way to the cross (Matthew 11:28–29).

Written by KATIE SMITH

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