Receiving An "E" For Effort

As a child attending elementary school, I remember carrying home my report card to my parents. On that report card, was a section devoted not only to grades, but a Habits section containing a block which included an "E" for effort. It wasn't enough for me just to make a passing grade, but how did I do in comparison to what I could have done.

Whatever work we engaged in for the Lord, let us ask ourselves, "Are we honestly putting forth our maximum effort, or are we just putting in the minimum effort we "think" we can get by with in order to allowed in heaven?" Could we have put forth more effort than we actually did?

The following poem by an unknown author illustrates our effort (or the lack of effort) and the ensuing results:

"I think my soul is a tame old duck
Dabbling around in barnyard muck,
Fat and lazy with useless wings.
But sometimes when the north wind sings
And the wild ones hurtle overhead,
It remembers something lost and dead,
And cocks a wary, bewildered eye
And makes a feeble attempt to fly.
It's fairly content with the state it's in,
But it isn't the duck it might have been."

Beloved, as the poem states, are we content with the state we're in? Have we given our best effort in doing the Lord's work? (1 Corinthians 15:58; cf. Ecclesiastes 9:10; Deuteronomy 6:5; Jeremiah 48:10). We certainly don't want to be found "slumbering and sleeping" on the job when the Lord returns (Matthew 25:1-13; cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-8).

Wouldn't we rather receive an "E" for effort instead? (cf. Matthew 25:19-23,34-36).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets