Keep Going

“Keep going.”  I have to tell myself that every once in a while.  My profession allows me to do lots of good, meaningful, and sometimes difficult things.  It’s not unusual for a given day to be filled to the brim with any combination of them.  I’m often energized by it all in the moment, but after taking a break, sometimes I need my little pep talk to help me jump back into the fray.  “Keep going. It’s worth it.”  

Don’t get me wrong.  I absolutely love what I do, but doing good is hard. It’s all the more difficult when doing good doesn’t show immediate results.  Sure, sometimes we see the fruit of our labor right away, but most of the time we have to wait.  Some of the good we try to do is swimming against the tide of the culture and it’s exhausting.  Sometimes we try to do good and people simply don’t want it.  It’s easy to see how we could become weary through it all.  When the weariness sets in, run, don’t walk, to Galatians 6:9.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Don’t give up!  God tells us it’s worth doing the good.  We just don’t know what the results are going to be or when we will see them.  That takes a lot of discipline.  Deep down, I want it all to work like a math problem, something like this: (time + generosity + compassion) lots of faith = good results for others.  I wish it were always that simple.  Sometimes it is.  Often we’re dealing with a lot more variables; things outside of our control.  Our broken world compounds the hurts and pains.  People regularly reject the good and encourage others to do the same.  Sometimes we even stumble over our own feet.  

This would be a really depressing article if it weren’t for one very important fact.  God is at work through us when we do good.  We certainly don’t want to get in the way, but we don’t have to be perfect either.  God is the originator of good.  If good is going to happen, it will be His doing, not ours. Our job is to deliver His goodness as well as we know how.  He does the rest.  He does it in His own way and in His own time.  Along the way, God wants us to have faith.  As it says in Hebrews 11:1,

Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 

This is not blind faith.  God’s goodness is powerful.  We see it all the time.  Just because we don’t see results on our timeline doesn’t mean there are no results.  I have resolved to celebrate every time I see God’s word at work in someone’s life.  Even if I don’t see it, God promises that His word still works.  

“For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.  For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.” Isaiah 55:9-11

So don’t give up.  Struggle and strive against everything that would hinder you from doing good.  Yes, it’s hard, but trust in God and He will strengthen you.  “Keep going.  It’s worth it.”

“but those who trust in the LORD will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:27-31