Doing what we can
He who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward. — 1 Corinthians 3:8
Sometimes we may get discouraged because what we’re doing for the Lord seems unsuccessful. The children in the Sunday school class we teach are restless and inattentive. The neighbors we’re trying to reach with the gospel are politely indifferent. The members of our own family are far from the Lord. The world we lift up to God in fervent intercession grows increasingly violent and anti-Christian. All of this can add up to deep soul-discouragement.
Listen to the words of a Salvadoran clergyman who was murdered for his fearless denunciation of violence and injustice. He wrote: “We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development . . . We cannot do everything, and there’s a sense of liberation in realizing that.” This attitude helps us to do small things and to leave “an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.”
That agrees with the apostle Paul’s encouragement to be faithful in our tasks and to wait on God who “gives the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6-7).
Don’t allow discouragement to cause you to quit. In God’s own time our work will bear fruit. —
Go, labor on, spend, and be spent,
Thy joy to do Thy Father’s will;
It is the way the Master went;
Should not the servant tread it still? — Bonar
READ: 1 Corinthians 3:5-15
You are a success in God’s kingdom if you are faithful where He has placed you.
The Bible in one year:
• Isaiah 23-25
• Philippians 1
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