Not in Vain

This time of year is busy, with the upward haul of seeking to reflect Christ in the classroom and point my students to Christ while also helping them understand such important concepts as addition and subtraction and what the letter “y” actually says. And then there’s the music rehearsals and my own personal practice time, and various other miscellaneous ministry responsibilities to take care of. On top of all that, I am often out late at church or other ministry activities, which makes it much more difficult to get up early and focus on my time with God. During the schoolyear, the world always looks much bleaker on a Thursday morning when I’m at my most exhausted.

But don’t get me wrong; I’m not complaining. During the quarantine, I missed my ministry life very much. I missed interacting with my students, I missed explaining how 2-digit addition works, and what makes a sentence a sentence. I missed the rehearsals and the responsibilities and the fun of always being around to help with things.

But sometimes… just sometimes, I look around and am overwhelmed by all the “things” on my to-do list, and am faced with the temptation to get discouraged.

I see the stack of seatwork papers waiting to be corrected, I hear the student talking to their neighbor again, I see the mysterious liquid leaking out of a student’s lunchbox or hear another argument happening at recess. I see the pile of songs to be learned and rehearsed, I hear that someone I spent time discipling has made a horrible decision… it all suddenly just seems like too much.

Once I begin to slide down that slope of discouragement, every little thing seems to pull me down further. But the things that pull me down are all lies. Satan wants me to believe each of those things are hopeless. He wants me to feel certain that there will be leaky lunchboxes and arguments every morning for the rest of my life. He wants me discouraged. And yet, discouragement is a very real emotion. How can I fight it?

The same way I can fight any of Satan’s lies: with God’s truth.

It is the truth of God that defeats Satan’s lies. It is the truth of God that can help us out of our downward slide and lift us out of discouragement.

I Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

That’s as good as a promise. In fact, it really is a promise that God will use our work for His glory. Not a bit of your labor will be wasted, so long as it is done in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. When we rely on God to strengthen and enable us, we have the assurance that whatever is accomplished will matter, whether or not we get to see the results here on earth.

“And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Galatians 6:9)