A MORE CONVENIENT SEASON

(Post by: Madie Hobbs)

In November, I began reading a book by Charlotte Bronte called “Jane Eyre”. It is a classic, so I’m sure some of you have heard of this book, or maybe have even read it.

To give you a basic overview of the book, it’s about a girl named Jane Eyre, whose parents died when she was an infant. Because of her parent’s death, she has been sent to live with her aunt and three cousins who mistreat her horribly. In order to get her out of their hair, Jane’s aunt sends her to a girl’s school, where she isn’t treated much better than she was at home.

There is not enough food for all of the girls, it is always cold, the headmaster is extremely cruel, and so on. Through all these trials though, Jane sees one girl, Helen Burns, (who tends to get punished even more than the other girls), who constantly has a good attitude and bears all her punishments well. She notices something different in Helen Burns compared to all the rest of the girls, which you find out later in the book, is her Christ-like attitude.

As Jane and Helen are having a conversation about how much Helen is punished for silly things, Jane says she could not possibly bear it. Helen’s response is quite challenging…  

She says, “Yet it would be your duty to bear it, if you could not avoid it: it is weak and silly to say that you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.”  

And now I want you to really pay attention to Jane’s response. This is SO important. “I heard her with wonder: I could not comprehend this doctrine of endurance; and still less could I understand or sympathize with the forbearance she expressed for her chastiser. Still, I felt that Helen Burns considered things by a light invisible to my eyes. I suspected she might be right and I wrong; but I would not ponder the matter deeply; like Felix, I put it off to a more convenient season.”  

When I read this, it hit me super hard. “…I would not ponder the matter deeply… I put it off to a more convenient season.” The very first thing I thought of while reading this, was how we as Christians do this EVERY SINGLE DAY. I know that can be difficult to hear, but I have seen this play out so many times in my own life and the lives of Christians around me.  

We lack conviction. That is one thing I have noticed about Christians, especially throughout 2020. We talk big. We act like we would go through persecution for our beliefs, but then the moment they are challenged we comply.  

For 2021 my focus word is “fight”. Throughout the year, I’m going to be focusing on fighting the battles the Lord calls me to fight, without any resistance or hesitation. Now, I don’t mean I’m going to literally fight with people I don’t agree with, or who don’t have the same opinions as me. I just want to be a person the Lord can use to speak up for the convictions He has laid upon my heart. Another thing I want to focus on is praying for the Church to fight. In 2020, I have watched the Church become the weakest it has ever been.

We have let the Government decide when we do and do not meet, instead of God. We have allowed fear to cripple us and take away our influence. My prayer for the Church this year is that we would not put off the issues that are hard to study and understand, “to a more convenient season”.

No! This is the season for action! We must act against evil now, before it strips away everything we have ever fought for in the past. We must give way to the convictions the Lord has given us. You may have to fight alone. You may have to keep fighting alone, until Jesus has used every last ounce of your strength.  

This isn’t just about us. If we do not fight now and set an example, who will be fighting 50 years from now? At the moment, the example we are setting for future generations is the concept of putting the hard things off “to a more convenient season”. But, if I am being honest with you, that perfect season you are waiting for, that season where things won’t be difficult anymore, is not coming.

There is always going to be something in front of you that is hard to fight. Always. But the thing you need to decide is whether or not you are going to let the thing in front of you consume your life. Because that is what evil does. It devours everything in its path, and as of right now, it isn’t meeting any resistance from the Church.  

“For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love;”  (2 Corinthians 6:2-6) 

Now is the favorable time. Now is the season. I want to challenge each and every one of you to first pray about some specific issues you feel like the Lord would want you to fight against. Then, I want you to act upon the things He lays on your heart. Do not wait for a “more convenient season”. This is the time.

Now act. 

SO WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE? 

= How have you been fighting against evil in your life? 

= Do you find yourself waiting for a “more convenient season” sometimes? 

= What are you going to do differently?