Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” This episode is about examples of how we might grow weary in doing good and what we should do if we do. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Let Us Not Grow Weary In Doing Good
Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
“Let us not become wearing in doing good.” That is something that is easier said than done. I think it can be easy to become weary in doing good, especially if you are always striving to do good. If you are trying to be perfect so that you can earn your way into the kingdom of God, you will get tired very quickly. And guess what, God doesn’t need your perfection. God is not calling you to be perfect. He wants us to do our best, He is not looking for perfection.
This can be hard to accept. When we look around us we see a world that seems to ask for perfection. We see people posting on social media about their perfect family, their perfect house, their perfectly decorated Christmas tree. We see the models on TV and in the magazines and they look so perfect. We see our co-workers and they seem to be doing everything so perfectly. We look at our friends and they are perfect parents, and we look at other couples and they seem perfect. With our access to technology in today’s world, it can seem like everyone else seems to be doing so much more than we are. This is just an illusion.
There may be people out there doing more than you, but there are also people out there doing less than you. It is not our job to compare. All you can see is what those people are doing. You can’t see all the behind the scenes footage. Maybe they are striving to be perfect at work and yet they are failing at home. Maybe they had to miss out on their child’s sporting event or dance recital so that they could spend the time to have a perfectly decorated tree. It doesn’t matter what this world is asking of us, it only matters what the Lord is asking from us. He is not asking for us to be perfect.
He is asking for us to do good in the world and to not grow weary doing it. There are two ways I think we can grow weary from doing good. The first one is when we over do it. We strive for perfection. Our brokenness has us striving to do more and more so that God will love us more and more. We know on some level that this isn’t actually true. We know there isn’t anything we can do to make God love us anymore than He already does. Yet, even though we know this on some level, we still strive to do the right thing, to do it perfectly, to do enough so that God will love us. This is the first way we can grow weary. We just get tired of trying so hard.
The second way I think we can grow weary is when we are doing good over a long period of time and yet we see no reward or nothing positive coming out of it. For instance, you know someone that is always unkind to you. You have always treated this person with kindness. You decided you would spread kindness in the world even if others didn’t. However, if you continue to be kind and the other person continues to be unkind, you can get tired. You can start to wonder if it’s even worth being kind to that person when they are still being so unkind. The verse above is telling us that we need to keep trying. Don’t grow weary as we never know what good we are doing that we just can’t see. We never know which kind thing it is that will make a difference.
Another example of how we might grow weary if we don’t see results is if we are doing good for a specific cause and yet we see not change in the circumstances. For instance, my friend has been doing good and fighting for what is right for her daughter. However, she has been fighting for what is right for her daughter for over two years now and is not seeing any results. She is tired and who can blame her. The verse above is telling us not to give up. It is telling us that we will reap the benefits in God’s time, not ours. However, if we quit, if we stop doing good, we may never reap the benefits.
We have all heard stories about how one act of kindness changed the outcome of someones life in a profound way. Here is a story I heard when I was younger. There was a boy walking home from school one day with all of his books. His hands were full as he had cleaned out his locker that day. On his way home he tripped and dropped all of his stuff all over the sidewalk. A new kid in the neighborhood saw him and helped him pick up his stuff. He helped the boy carry his stuff home and they talked the whole way to his house. They became friends and walked to school together the rest of the years they were in school. At graduation the boy who had dropped all of his things that day wrote his friend a note. He let him know that the reason he had cleaned out his locker that day was because he was not intending to go back to school. He was being bullied, was so alone and had decided to take his life. But then when that other boy offered to help carry his stuff and then became his friend, his whole life changed. He had found a reason to live. The other boy had no idea of the impact of that one good deed.
Sometimes the good you are doing can be affecting people and you just can’t see it. In the first example where you were being kind to someone that was unkind to you. Maybe you don’t see any change in that person who is unkind. However, another co-worker has witnessed your kindness and has tried to be kind to someone in their life. Your kindness is spreading even when you don’t see it. Another benefit of your kindness that you may not always see is when your children, friends, or loved ones witness your kindness and then spread it to their loved ones.
I understand how we can grow weary doing good when we don’t see any results. Is this is you right now? Have you have been trying so hard to do good and are tired because you don’t see any results of all your efforts? If so I would say look to the Lord for the strength to keep going. He is telling us that we will reap a harvest, only if we don’t give up. If you are struggling to not give up, then ask the Lord for help. He is there to help us. He longs for us to turn to Him and to ask Him for help. Why don’t we do it more often? Why don’t we ask Him, who has unending strength and power to help us when we are running out? Lord, help us to not grow weary in doing good.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you help us to not grow wearing in doing good. Help us to be patient and to wait for your timing for our harvest. Help us to continue to do good even when we can’t see any good coming from it. Lord, help those of us that grow weary because we are trying to be perfect for you. Help us to truly understand that we don’t have to strive for perfection. Help us to understand that we don’t have to earn Your love, it is given freely. Lord, I ask that you help all of us move that knowledge from our brain to our heart so that we truly feel your love and know that it is unconditional. We love you Lord, you are so amazing. We thank you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. The character trait we are working on this week in our “10 Weeks to be More Like Jesus” Challenge is Compassion. I have emailed out an article titled, 10 Easy Ways to Cultivate Compassion written by Lizza Rankin, M. D. I will put a link in the show notes if you would like to join us in trying to grow in compassion this week. (CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE) I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow. Have a blessed day!