STEWARDSHIP FOCUS
YOUR LABOR IS NOT IN VAIN Craig Allen Cooper
For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. Hebrews 6:10
Cheer up, dear believer. Your labor is not in vain. It may feel for a time like your hard work is not making a difference, but you can rest assured that “in all toil there is profit” (Prov. 14:23) under the banner of a just God.
God has not overlooked anything that you have done to serve other people for His glory. A comforting aspect of God’s justice is that He takes note of our work and the love we show for others.
The Lord sees your work. He sees your love. He sees the time, effort, energy, and enthusiasm that you have exerted in attending to your family, your loved ones, your community, and your world. He takes note of all of that, and He will reward you for it.
What does Jesus say in Matthew 10:42? “Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward” He notices what you do and is planning how to reward you.
He does not overlook the love that you have shown for His name in serving the saints (past tense) as you still do (present tense). The almighty sovereign Lord of all is all-seeing and all-knowing. “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).
God has arranged life in His kingdom in such a way that we get the honor of doing the good works He has prepared for us and the joy of standing in amazement with our jaws dropped in wonder as we watch what only He can do through those good works.
It’s all by grace so He gets all the glory. Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
So, don’t give up. Don’t become weary, but do good to all you can, and especially for your fellow believers (see Gal. 6:9-10).