Some things just take work

Dad used to say “Christianity is not a glorified hayride, it is not a sanctified picnic. It is a vineyard looking for laborers, it is an army looking for soldiers, it is a field looking for harvesters.” 

The fact is… 

Some things just take work. 

“…make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,[e] and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love” (2 Peter 1:5-7). 

“…I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). 

“…be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

“…endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).

Some things just take work.

Not only does 2 Timothy 4 teach us to fill up our ministry, it also says “do the work of an evangelist” (vs. 5). The work of preaching is simply that. It is work. It is not a Sunday drive, it is seven days a week of living, serving, caring, counseling, forgiving, helping people find their hundredth second chance, studying, failing, improving, listening, navigating frustrations, moving past a hurt, enduring, avoiding the fiery darts of the devil, praying - it is work. 

But remember, God is in it or you will fail. God obviously expects our participation. Let God do what only God can do and you do what only you can do. 

Some things just take work. 

Don’t quit, this one is worth the work!