To Encourage You

Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

So much of our service to Christ seems, at least at the moment, to be inconsequential.  It can seem that no matter how much we pray, or how often we share the gospel, no matter how much we encourage, or no matter what we give, little changes in the circumstances or people in our lives.  We can do things sincerely and sacrificially out of our love for Christ, living faithfully, as much as we know to do, but our lives can still be marked by hardship and disappointment.  Weariness can result, and sometimes we wonder, does it really matter how I live or what I do?  Does the Lord even notice?  Am I spinning my wheels?  Is it worth it all? 

A missionary who visited our church many years ago, shared some things that greatly helped my perspective on all of this.  His name was Harry Lee.  He had spent years in prison in communist China simply because he was a Christian.   Harry spoke all the time about how wonderful heaven would be.  He reminded us that it is only in heaven that we will fully realize what happened as a result of our prayers, our giving, our service, or our witness.  Although it may have seemed that very little resulted from our “doing good” on earth, there we will realize fully what God did with the acts of obedience that characterized our lives.  There we will understand how anything given to Him was multiplied by the miraculous touch of his hands. 

The Bible talks about rewards in heaven.  One of the words it uses for these rewards is “crowns” (1 Corinthians 9:25, 1 Peter 5:4).  Interestingly, Paul uses this same word to describe those people who had become Christians as a result of his and his coworkers’ ministry.  To the Thessalonian church in 1 Thessalonians 2:19 Paul says, “For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?”  One of the most wonderful things about heaven will be that there will people there as the result of the believer’s faithfulness and obedience to Christ.  The full reality of this will make any well-doing we have done in service to Christ on earth well worth it in the end.  What could ever compare to being “welcomed into eternal dwellings” by those people that are there in part because of our influence (Luke 16:9)? 

Yes, let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.