A glorious Dependence

John Wesley once wrote that a church is “ all at it, and always at it”

I’ve been thinking about this idea …

And one interesting idea comes to the surface “unfavorable circumstance…leading to immense benefit and kingdom progress and building.”

We must turn to Paul to understand this well...

See, I would say Paul was always at it even in his often-unfavorable circumstance; those moments where he was probably asking God why but trusting in his immense faithfulness and sovereignty. See, Paul wrote most of his letters from prison and I strangely find myself encouraged because even though Paul could do little and had little to do he found himself “at it”…following the impulses of his heart and his love for mission even when mission seemed impossible.

In my circumstance and in Paul’s he always returned to faith in God’s good purpose for the world even if it meant difficulty for himself. In this “ all at it, and always at it” he was always encouraging others to trust in God’s good purpose for the world and work toward it which perhaps was God’s greater purpose through Paul besides his mission trips and speaking engagements: because Paul’s true purpose was only shown through time and known through God’s lens. Which points to the fact that there is a glorious dependence to be had upon God as his children and as our father for the purposes unseen.

“All at it, and always at it” doesn’t mean there is not differing circumstances. It doesn’t exclude the season of Sabbath and rest it simply means that we must find ourselves doing what we can for others and for God’s Kingdom even in seasons of rest. Trusting that when we have been given seasons of rest that we are not given them for ourselves but for others. We have to follow and trust in the fact that the things that are for others will fill our soul with more rest than we know and are in God’s good purpose and that the intentions for God’s kingdom are being worked out by the Father himself: faith coupled with confidence.

May we be “all at it, and always at it!”

JG