Recently I was asked by my friends at CRU’s Creating Options Together Conference to share my thoughts on “How to Keep Going When Ministry is Hard.” As I work with the Persevering Church, this is something we deal with daily – it’s always hard. Actually, “hard” becomes the norm…
They asked me to speak to their US audience from Galatians 6:7-10. You see, the Galatians had a condition called Weariness. Or, as Langston Hughes called it, they had caught a case of “the Weary Blues.”
Everyone gets the Weary Blues from time to time. The problem wasn’t just that they merely tired of “doing good things” – it went way deeper than that. Paul is, as the old folk used to say, applying the “board of education to the seat of the problem.” He had to get to the bottom of what was causing their weariness – much of which was caused by their context of persecution.
In this passage, Paul diagnosis how the Galatians caught the Weary Blues. Fortunately, it’s not terminal – he then gives his prescription for their only Cure.
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Endurance. 