Last night Kelly and I were able to go on a much-needed date night thanks to my mom coming to visit and watch the boys. We ate some good food, had hard but worthwhile conversation, and in the end both agreed that 2019 has probably been one of the hardest of our almost 9 years together. We’ve barely gotten by financially, had far more days of running on four hours of sleep than any sane human should, seen good friends leave, seen plans and goals not be achieved, and had more conflict in our marriage than ever before.
It’s been a year of survival, something that’s not easy for someone who loves growth and progress to admit. That’s why Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15 were a strong encouragement to me this morning as I felt the weight of year of survival and spinning our wheels. He writes,
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.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 15:51-58
Be steadfast
The hard fact of life is that there are seasons for survival. There are times in life that are simply hard, and that’s not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean you’re failing or doing something wrong. It doesn’t mean you need to quit what you’re doing or trash a relationship and move on. Instead it may be that God is working in you an endurance and character that will last (Romans 5:3-6).
Our role in weeks, months, and years of struggle and hardship isn’t to put on a happy face and pretend it’s all fine. It’s not to solve all of our own problems. Instead it is to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord”.
Steadfastness doesn’t mean you never feel like running away, it means that even if you feel like it you don’t run. It means that you’ve set yourself with purpose and you’re not giving up. God’s promise for us when we remain steadfast and immovable even in the midst of struggling to survive and do the work that he has called us to is that our work is never in vain.
Your labor is not in vain
The labor of Gospel ministry often feels like it’s in vain. Twenty conversations later and the person still doesn’t grasp their own false view of themselves. Two years of studying the Bible with a group and they still can’t seem to turn their eyes off themselves and onto the mission that God has given them.
It’s not just in ministry that the work we do feels worthless. It doesn’t matter what your job is there are going to be seasons of meaninglessness. That is, after all, the curse that God puts on work in Genesis 3. The writer of Ecclesiastes states it bluntly;
“What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.”
Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 (NIV)
Been there, experienced that. But the good news is that that’s not the full story. “in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
Know this as we enter the final weeks of 2019. Your labor isn’t meaningless. Even if it feels like you’ve spent the entire year going nowhere, even if every endeavor you’ve pursued has ended in failure, it’s not in vain. God is at work. He has won, and you will be rewarded.
Victory through Jesus
“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
You’ve been given victory, a victory that even death can’t hold you back from. Maybe this year has been a long, drawn out season of dying. Maybe metaphorical death. Maybe literal death for you or for someone you love. Regardless, victory is yours. Your work isn’t in vain, and your reward is present. If the sting of death has and will be swallowed up, what do you have to fear from a hard year?
“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.”
Amen and amen.
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