Keep Going...It's Worth It

"Sometimes I feel...that my cross is heavy beyond endurance... My heart seems worn out and bruised beyond repair, and in my deep loneliness I often wish to be gone, but God knows best, and I want to do every ounce of work He wants me to do." ––C.T. Studd

 A favorite song of several years has been Gerald Crabb's Through the Fire:


"He never promised that the cross would not be heavy and the hill would not be hard to climb..."  What He did promise was, "... I am with you alway, even unto the end of the [age]" (Matthew 28:20b).

Interestingly, this tremendous promise of our Lord Jesus was made immediately after charging His disciples with what we know as the Great Commission: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations..." (Mt. 28:19-20a).

We are charged to go. Go everywhere. Preach the gospel to every creature. Stay with them long enough to disciple them well ("teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you").

That's not an easy task...yes, there is a price to pay. Yes, there are things to be left behind – and sometimes it's forever. Yes, there is pain and loneliness – sometimes, as C.T. Studd said, the "heart seems worn out and bruised beyond repair, and in my deep loneliness I often wish to be gone..."

But you know...it is worth it, Missionary. Even if you're not seeing great results. Even if it seems you're spinning your wheels...if God has called you, and if God has placed you, your faithfulness will be worth it. Maybe it won't seem that way for a while...maybe not a long while. Maybe not till He comes.

But though it hurts – and it can hurt terribly – keep doing "every ounce of work He wants [you] to do." You really aren't working alone; He is "with you alway, even unto the end of the age." That's all the way to the finish line! Listen to the cheers of the "great cloud of witnesses" (Heb. 12:1)...and keep going. It'll be worth it.

Not long ago, I was speaking to someone who had attended the wake of a deceased saint in an Apostolic organization in which I used to labor. They told me they had seen a woman there who asked about me. The name was faintly familiar, but brought no memories to mind at its mention. However, this woman told the person speaking with me that I had witnessed to her many years ago at her place of employment – a pharmacy in a service station. Because of that, she is serving God today – married to a preacher, working to further the Kingdom.

I can't express what hearing that did for me.

Wherever you are laboring, dear fellow-laborer, some day the story will be told. Keep working, even when it hurts; even when the cross is heavy; even when the heart is worn out and bruised beyond repair...because sometimes it just is. Pain comes with the territory.

But rejoicing and reward are part of the territory to come!

He who goes out weeping as he carries his sack of seed will come home with cries of joy as he carries his sheaves of grain. ––Psalm 126:6 (CJB)