“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (1st Cor. 15:58)
How long will you continue when you see very little fruit to your labor, and how long will you continue when that fruit never seems to increase?
The default answer seems to be that the rewards for our labors await us in heaven, that we can never really know in this life just how far reaching each of our personal ministries for the glory of the Living God has reached in this life.
I ask a question of you, does much labor always mean much fruit? Does continuous labor for the Lord always mean great rewards in heaven?
I am always reminded of Jeremiah when words such as these begin to flow from my pen, two people out of the thousands heard and believed his message that he was sent to give.
“And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.” (Jer. 13:14)
Jeremiah saw the fruits of his labors, death by the sword, death by famine, by the beasts of the field, captivity in a foreign land for the rest.
All of us who serve the Lord Jesus Christ in love for the glory of the Most High desire to see the ones we speak to that do not yet know Him as Lord come to repentance, to call upon His name for the salvation of their soul. But instead many times, we watch them listen, and continue on the wide path to eternal damnation.
We encourage all that claim to serve Him, speaking to them of the need to search for the lost, to walk the path set before them in obedient faith, to fully die to self. Then wonder why the extent of their supposed service seems to be not forsaking the assembling of themselves together for an hour or so each Sunday morning, and when we meet them on the street, the world and their place in it seems to be their only concern.
Those who have been truly born again realize the truth of Matthew 22:14,
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
For we have been sent to call and see very little fruit for our labors.
Is it enough for you to know your treasures, your rewards are waiting in heaven? And I must ask this question of you as well. If we see so very little fruit here for our labor, then why would we believe any rewards are waiting for us?
It is a question I have no answer for.
I know that these Letters of Truth are what I have been called to do at this point in my life, of this I have no doubt. I know it is the Holy Spirit that guides my pen, yet I see so little fruit for my labors.
It is that knowing that we are to have faith in.
“The labourer is worthy of his reward.” (1st Tim. 5:18b)
For over twenty years Jeremiah labored, pleading with the people, at times asking the Almighty to recompense pain and great suffering upon those he was sent to, asking the Lord to remember his work and obedience to what he was called to do. He saw the fruit of his labor in lamentation and great sorrow.
What you have been sent to do, do with a sincere heart, knowing that your labor is not in vain. Even if you cannot see any fruit, if you know without a single doubt that you are on the part of the path that your Father in heaven has set you on, then do as you have been sent to do.
Desiring more is normal, trusting in His will for the direction of your life requires faith. There may or may not be times of encouragement, if you know you are where He has placed you, that should be all the encouragement you need.
Strive to understand that truth.
