Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.(1 Corinthians 15:58 – ESV)
Why bother to labor? It is worth the work, because He is worth the work; even if it doesn’t seem to work out it is worth it. God says your labor is NOT in vain! If we pray and nothing seems to happen (Habakkuk 3:17-19), having to put up with a bad boss (1 Peter 2:19-21), etc., it was still not in vain.
To continue on in the fight means that you have faith, you rest assured that Christ has won the fight, that is why you soldier on, even amidst disappointment and failure, struggle and battle. Jesus has won the war, and in faith we carry out the fight. To give up the fight is to give up the faith. Your struggle with trying to read your Bible / study your Bible / learn your Bible / your struggle with witnessing / prayer / giving to the church / people in the church / sin / doubt / depression / pain / suffering / your health / your family / your finances / your marriage / with loneliness, lack, life, and love / when everything is a mess / when nothing is working / with God’s will, none of it is in vain in the Lord.
“Just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay.”
We aim to please God, not to get something from Him, but because we have already received something, His love. We try to imitate Him because it is the right thing to do, because it glorifies God, because we love Him, and because we want to, or at least we want to want to...but even when we fail, we look to Him with faith and realize the reason we can or want to do any of this anyway is because He has already done it for us, and it is His righteousness, His glory, His love, His "want to", and His perfect life that counts for us. Our labor is not in vain, why, because His labor was and is not in vain.
All my eggs are in this one basket, I am “all in” based on His promise, His life, His death, His resurrection; it shows His character, and I am banking my life, my soul, my all on it! He is worthy of the work! I am not holding anything back; He is worth the work! Our work does not save us, but it does praise Him, and it is not in vain.
Every little thing you did for God’s glory you will be eternally grateful for. He is so wonderful; He gives you the power to do it! He lives through you that you might give glory to Him. The more you treasure Him here the more treasure you lay up in heaven. You may not see it now, but the exchange rate is very well worth it (Romans 8:18).
7 comments:
His work is the only reason to work...we continue to fight even when we sometimes falter, because to give up the fight is to give up the faith...
Perseverance comes from the hope that is in Jesus and who He is and what He has done. We can push on through trials,testing and character building because Jesus is Lord, He has paid for every sin and He has given us every tool we need to make it through.
I really needed to hear (read) this clarification today, JD. Thanks.
This message gets better and better every time I hear it. Thank you JD.
"To give up the fight is to give up the faith."
And if God took away the daily need to fight (by taking away all sin & suffering), He'd also be taking away the daily need for faith. The result? Festering & paltry faith at best.
I speculate another reason God allows evil to persist sometimes- to force us to mature.
Good comments, and thanks...
We aim to please God, not to get something from Him, but because we have already received something, His love.
Amen. We sometimes (and in the past I often) are deceived into thinking we are pleasing God by what we are doing and really we are just wanting to "give to get" as the saying goes. If I do this, then God will do that. Wrong motivation.
We try to imitate Him because it is the right thing to do, because it glorifies God, because we love Him, and because we want to, or at least we want to want to...
nuff said. :D
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