Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “A life of service”
Our Bible verse for today: “So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.” Galatians 6:9-10
Our thought for today: “A life of service often requires perseverance over the long haul.”
Back in the mid-1990’s I attended The Billy Graham School of Evangelism. It was a week-long conference for Pastors which was held in a beautiful hotel on the shores of the Pacific Ocean in the little town of Monterey, California, just south of San Francisco. I was there on a scholarship from the Billy Graham Association and it was a wonderful week of learning and inspiration and rest.
I’ll never forget one of the leaders of a workshop I attended. He was a Pastor by the name of Harold who at the time was in his 70s, had three different types of cancer, and was being told he probably had less than a year to live.
I don’t remember the exact title of the workshop Harold taught, but the purpose of it was to encourage pastors of small churches to hang in there and to be faithful to their call to their small church. The reason Harold had been asked by the Billy Graham Association to teach that workshop was because he had been the pastor of the same little church (I believe it was in Iowa), for over forty-five years.
Harold was a hoot and we had lots of laughs and lots of fun in his workshop. The main thing I got out of it, which has stayed with me for all these years, was a great sense of encouragement as Harold helped us to appreciate the value of small-church ministry and why it is that small churches deserve to have pastors who will stick with them for the long haul.
The lesson Harold taught to us small church pastors, and the one the Apostle Paul teaches in Galatians 6:9-10, applies to all of us whether we’re Pastors of small churches, teachers of small Sunday school classes, or for that matter, just regular old Joe or Joan Christian faithfully living out our average life on a daily basis. In the eyes of God there is great value in small things done well and done faithfully over a lifetime.
Most things that matter in life take time to be completed. Seldom are meaningful accomplishments achieved quickly or easily. That means that we have to be willing to settle-in, hunker down, and stick with it for the long haul. It really is true that nothing is over until you quit. As long as you stick with a thing, and as long as you are doing it as if you were doing it for Jesus Himself (see yesterday’s devotional message), in due time you will reap the results the Lord intends for you to have.
So hang in there. Work well, work hard, and work long. Don’t give-in and don’t give-up. If you’ll stick with it you will reap at the proper time.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 