Kristina Lunde

The Lord is my strength and my song.
Psalm 118:14a

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October 29, 2024 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Labor on Through Christ in Me

“I labor on in weakness and rejoicing.”

Those lyrics from the song “Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me” by Jonny Robinson, Rich Thompson, and Michael Farren gripped me when we sang it during church last Sunday.

The labor reference brought to mind work, toil, and suffering. I didn’t think of that kind of labor, although pregnancy-induced labor can simultaneously end in weakness and rejoicing. But then I remembered how God intervened decades ago during my emergency delivery. His miracle came after I labored through low heart rate episodes and other signs of my baby’s distress. God provided an expert obstetrical surgery team and brought me through my weakness to rejoicing at our healthy baby’s birth.

I need to remember those past miracles and trust God in my present circumstances. Thankfully, I am not enduring crushing labor pains, horrendous setbacks, or debilitating health crises. In contrast, those on my prayer list face serious problems: a critically-ill hospitalized baby, three friends coping with their spouse’s sudden death, and two people facing final battles after years of cancer treatments. Yet I feel weak and weary at my everyday frustrations with people, schedules, and things that break.

The song “Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me” portrays how I can trust in Christ through my current challenges. In his blogpost, Cru speaker and author Dan Flynn praises the biblical nature of these lyrics. He lists over twenty attributes of Jesus mentioned in this song. Many are evident in the second verse and refrain:

The night is dark but I am not forsaken
For by my side, the Savior He will stay
I labor on in weakness and rejoicing
For in my need, His power is displayed.

To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me
Through the deepest valley He will lead
Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome
Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

That same phrase, “labor on in weakness and rejoicing,” has struck me before. The combo of weakness and rejoicing sounds like an oxymoron until viewed through a biblical lens. God’s power fills my inadequacy, as the song proclaims, “for in my need, His power is displayed.” I don’t have the strength to push myself past my own weaknesses. I need God to strengthen me for my tasks, a relationship Paul describes so well:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Only Jesus Christ can empower me to get through my stuff, whether serious or inconsequential. When I take my eyes off Him and try to pursue my own ideas in vain independence, I disobey God’s will and purposes for me. My prayers come from my vantage point in the front row where I see friends and family dealing with so much. Although tired of interceding for God’s relief of their suffering, I know that when I get derailed into my own pity party, I become self-focused and my prayer life declines.

Lord God, convict me of my
focus on self-sufficiency instead of trusting in you,
blindness to my need for your power,
and pursuit of my personal comfort instead of helping others.
Teach me to rely only on You as “I labor on in weakness and rejoicing.” In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Filed Under: Trust Tagged With: Christ, labor on, lyrics, song

March 30, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

God be the Center

“Be thou the center of our least endeavor.” These words from the hymn “A Christian Home,” written by Barbara B. Hart in 1965, echoed in my ears after last Sunday’s church service. That phrase, for God to be the center, formed a punch line before the final line of the last verse:

O Lord, our God, our homes are Thine forever! 
We trust to Thee their problems, toil, and care; 
Their bonds of love no enemy can sever 
If Thou art always Lord and Master there: 
Be Thou the center of our least endeavor: 
Be Thou our Guest, our hearts and homes to share.

What it does not mean

That second-to-last line surprised me with what it did not pray for:

God, center my self-focus as I reflect on past pain and suffering.
Yes, in retrospect, I recognize God’s comfort and help through past troubled times. But I need to make Him the center of my life from this moment forward.

God be the center of my upcoming project.
Yes, I want God to be my foundation as I pursue the projects that He guides me to accomplish. But I need His guidance on more than just the big tasks.

God, be the center of my future.
Yes, I entrust what lies ahead to my Creator and Savior. But I need Him in the present moment.

God, be the center of my success.
Yes, I pray for God to be with me in my proud moments of achievement. But that is not the only time I need to be centered on God.

What it does mean

Of course, I desire God to be the central aspect of my past, present, future, projects, successes, goals, achievements, and choices. But what about inviting God to be the center of my everyday tasks, chores, and responsibilities? Even more humbling, what about establishing God as the center of my least-favorite, most-disgusting, often-dreaded activities? What if I pray God into the center of my everyday life, the here and now, even when I find it boring and undesirable?

Brother Lawrence’s writings, published in The Practice of the Presence of God, focus on his insights and time with God during the everyday tasks of life. Born Nicholas Herman in the early 1600s, Brother Lawrence spent years working in a monastery. His writings describe how he disciplined himself to focus on God as he worked, most frequently peeling potatoes in the kitchen. Five hundred years later, Brother Lawrence’s words still stand as a testament of how to involve God as the center of our least endeavor.

How

In Matthew 6:11, the Lord’s Prayer gives me an example of inviting God into my everyday life: “give us today our daily bread.” Not provision for the future, not pantries and freezers full of food for an entire month, but just enough for today’s nourishment. This verse helps me pray for God’s provision, for Him to supply me in the amount and timing that fills my needs, not what I think I deserve. In this way, I learn to trust God for His help in essentials of daily life.

Stormie O’Martian explores that same theme in her book, appropriately entitled Just Enough Light For The Step I’m On (1986, Harvest House Publishers). The image that comes to my mind is Psalm 119:105: “your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” God guides me with His word, giving me what I need on my everyday walk with Him.

My Prayer

Lord God, let my least endeavor be filled with your presence at the center. No matter how insignificant or irritating I find my everyday task, help me to rely on you as my foundation and guide. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
[Originally posted June 2021]

Filed Under: Trust Tagged With: Brother Lawrence, hymn, lyrics, prayer, trust

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