God Requires Effort ---- Not Results!

The words, "It won't do any good," is the usual response made by many of us when we are asked to invite someone to hear the gospel being preached or when we consider trying to talk to someone about the Bible. We are dead wrong, when think this way. It will do good because it is what God requires! (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16).

The reason behind this erroneous response, is that we "think" that God requires "results" from us in the form of increased numbers and such like. Dear reader, the only thing God requires of us is "effort" — and lots of it! (Ecclesiastes 9:10; cf. Deuteronomy 6:5).

Paul said of the establishment and growth of the church at Corinth, "I planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:6). Note that the "planting" and the "watering" are the duties of ourselves as God's children ..... the "increase" [results] is God's area of expertise. If we are diligent about our work in the Lord's kingdom, God is faithful in His.

Far too often, we become discouraged when God does not give us the increase we expect. Thus, we become lax in our efforts to plant and water the seed, the Word of God (Luke 8:11). But to cure this evil, Paul, by the Holy Spirit wrote: "And let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Gal. 6:9).

The next time we have the opportunity to sow or water some spiritual seed, let's not think of it in terms of wasted effort, just because we "think" it won't do any good. Rather, let us continue to teach, invite, and encourage every individual with whom we come in contact with, to be what the Lord would have them to be.

Let us remember what the apostle Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets