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Our
house has been a-buzz with the sounds of rhyming words. Our youngest have
been learning to read and after some extensive grilling on phonics they were able
to start rattling off those three letter, one syllable words like, "hat,"
"cat," "bat" and "fat." Going over these
has not been their most favorite thing. They would rather be reading NOW!
Learning to read is a building process. You
need to work on sounds,
then short words before starting on the longer ones. Four word
sentences come before the long complicated, multi-clause ones of a history
textbook. All of
the initial building is not in vain because its part of the process.
Near the end of his first recorded letter to
the Corinthians, Paul exhorts them to keep at "the work of the Lord,
knowing that your toil
is not in vain in the Lord" (v.
58). Sometimes it seems that what we are now doing is getting
us nowhere. But the Christian's work for the Lord is a lot like learning
to read. It is often a building
process that in many ways just takes time. You may feel that your
neighbors are not listening
to God's Spirit and your children don't want a faith like we have.
Paul says 'don't give
up. It is not in vain!'
Keep on keeping on! God rewards faithfulness
not results. Will you make a commitment today to be faithful in fulfilling
the labor God wants you
to carry out? You won't go unrewarded.
All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise
noted.
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Not In Vain
