The Lord's Work

"Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58

Have you ever done work that was in vain? What if you planted a garden and someone came along, dug it up and destroyed it? You would feel like your work was in vain. All those hours of planning and planting were a waste because your work is gone. When our work is done in vain it makes us feel useless and discouraged.

Well, here's some good news! Anything and everything the Lord asks us to do will not be in vain. Woohoo! Now that is a promise I can stand on. Our hearts desire to serve the Lord and do the work of His kingdom. What a promise it is to know that the work God has us do will always generate a good result.

I hope that you are encouraged now, because here comes the part that will require some faith and strength. When we do the Lord's work we don't always get to see the fruit of our labor. Sometimes we do and that is great! But most of the time we don't. Bummer, I know.

But don't be discouraged. Remember that garden you planted? That mean person came along and dug it up and destroyed your work. Well, those seeds that you so carefully planted were tossed somewhere. A bird may have eaten one and fed her babies. Others may have been scattered and took root in a different place. The point is that you didn't see your work grow and develop into something beautiful or meaningful, but just because you don't see the results doesn't mean it never happened.

When we don't get instant results we have to flip open our Bible and read 1 Corinthians 15:58 and say, "Ok Lord, I may not know why you had me do that but I know it was for Your perfect purpose."