ALWAYS NOT USELESS
[This is a two-part devo in one-serving. I'll be at the Charles Simeon Trust workshop next week, so here are this week's and next week's:).]
Paul’s Painful Perhaps
Galatians 4:11 – “I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.”
What has Paul been doing in Galatia? He’s been engaged in the spiritually exhausting, emotionally demanding, mentally taxing work of introducing sinners to Jesus and trying his best to make sure they understand who Jesus is and what He did and what that now means for them. It’s labor, he says, toil, struggle; it’s hard work.
If you’ve done it, you know it is. You try to listen to their heart. You try to communicate the relevance of Jesus to their problem. You try to connect significant passages of Scripture to their concerns. You try to help them reframe the argument. You try to be prayerful. You try to be helpful. You meet and talk and meet and talk. You open yourself up; you pour yourself out.
You would hate to see all that work come up empty.
“Perhaps I have labored over you in vain.”
If you’ve worked in churches for long, if you’ve prayed for a loved-one for long, if you’ve tried for a long time to bring your faith into that relationship, you know there’s always a “perhaps.” There’s always uncertainty when dealing with people. All people are people, and people are sinners. And the sinners who are drawn to the Gospel are often especially broken sinners. You can listen, pray, share, talk, and pray, and still feel like it was in vain.
Jesus lost a few too, remember. There were moments when nearly everyone walked away. There was a moment when they all ran away. Some betrayed Him, some denied Him, and some never seemed to really get it. It’s hard work.
But notice that Paul says, “I fear for you…” He’s not afraid for himself, for his own labors. He’s not afraid that he’s useless. He’s afraid for the Galatians. He’s afraid his work will be useless for them. Because if it’s useless for them, that means that they are missing out on an understanding of what it means to be children of God or to be set free in Christ, to be loosed from the Law and to be loosed unto love. (These are big themes in Galatians.) Like, if his work has been useless for them, that’s really not good. That’s super sad for them.
So, (Application #1) if you’re being labored over, friends, don’t let it be in vain. If people are praying for you, if they’re listening to you, if they’re sharing things with you, be benefited. Be blessed. Listen. Get it. Heal. Grow. At some point suspicion and hesitancy has to flex a bit so that friendship can begin and the flow of Gospel-benefits which is discipleship can increase. Old wounds can become emotional crutches; we limp because we’re used to limping. And maybe we’ll never be all the way healed this side of the dark river, but The Spirit is real and working, and God’s love heals and redeems. What we put in the Lord’s hands may not be all-the-way healed, but it can be all-the-way redeemed. And in some ways redeemed is almost as good as healed. In some ways it's more powerful and moving.
But, again, notice that Paul is not worried for himself. He is not worried that his labor is in vain. He is not afraid that his work is useless.
Paul’s Joyous Certainty
1Corinthians 15:58 – “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding the work of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor is not vain.”
When Paul worked “in the work of the Lord,” he worked with the certainty that his work was not worthless, useless, empty. He wasn’t just burning calories, flapping his gums, blowing hot air.
“The work of the Lord”: that’s the work we’re to be doing, joining Jesus in the epic quest to fill the earth with the true knowledge of God’s glory. In a word, discipleship. This work, as we’ve already noted, is difficult. I mean, it’s impossible apart from the Lord. But even the possible parts, the parts we’re to be doing—praying, listening, loving, sharing, serving—are demanding, fatiguing, exhausting. It’s holy work, and it’s really, really hard.
But know this (“knowing that”): it’s never in vain.
It’s never useless; it’s always useful. It’s never vain; it’s always productive. It’s never worthless; it’s always valuable.
Those conversations you walk away from smacking yourself in the forehead for saying that or not saying that, or talking too much or not saying enough… those piles of prayers that seem unanswered… all the literal sweat-equity you’ve put into the relationships… and you stare at all that and shake your head and wonder what the point is… none of it was wasted. Not a drop of it did nothing. Every bit of it did something. Everything was useful to the Lord.
Because it was “in the Lord.” “In the Lord” means, the Lord is at work in our work. Jesus is working in our good works for Him. And Jesus is powerful, wise, loving—He is each of those attributes beyond our ability to fathom. All combined, well, let’s just say, we can work with steadfastness and immovable persistence and energetic abundance because we can always know that Jesus is on the job with us.
So, (Application #2) if you’re engaged in frustrating labors, feeling tired, fruitless, hopeless, know this: it’s working.
It’s working! Now listen: it might not be working for them if they’re “Galatians,” but the Lord is using it. And I don’t mean He’s “using it in your life to teach you about humility, sacrifice, and suffering.” I’m sure He is using it in your life too, but that’s not what Paul’s teaching us here. He’s saying that God is using your work to further His mission. It’s all working to contribute to filling the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD.
Steadfast and Immovable: Keep going. Don’t lose heart. Don’t let appearances fool you into thinking you should give up. Don’t let frustrations or hardships convince you to quit. As Paul says elsewhere, “Don’t grow weary of doing good.” (2Thes 3:13; Gal 6:9)
Always Abounding: Keep growing. Pursue effectiveness. Learn. Pray, think, read, discuss, plan, adopt, adapt, reconfigure, scrap, relaunch, recruit… Knowing that the Lord is at work in our works allows us to pursue improvements and innovations with a kind of joyous abandon. We can try it because it’s all working! So have fun and work hard and pray a lot. The ratio of sweat, tears, and laughter should lean heavy on the laughter, steady on the sweat, with generous allowances for the semi-regular tears.
People are complicated. People are sinners. People start in different places and move at different speeds. Perhaps the people you’re praying for are not ready, or are not for you, or at this time. Lots of perhaps-es. Okay. You don’t have to impale yourself on their obstinance. Move on, keep working. Because all the work you’re working, even for the “Galatians” in your life, has the hidden hand of Christ within it. He is working, with wisdom, power, and love. He is working good in our good works.
So, keep up the good work.
Photo by Tim De Pauw on Unsplash
