Work your fingers to the bone, meet great resistance and eventually be run out of town. How would you describe that? Paul calls it success.
We tend to base our evaluations on popular criteria: Did it make money? Did we have fun? Was it pleasing and meaningful to others? Was it relaxing? It might be our evaluation of our last mission trip, or our last vacation, or maybe even our last fundraiser….either way these are the statements that I often hear.
Oddly, Paul doesn’t seem to ask the same questions. Sharing the Gospel in Thessalonica didn’t appear to earn Paul money, in fact, it cost him. He had to work to support himself while doing double duty serving the Church. There were many people who disliked what Paul and company had to say….so many that they were eventually run out of town. Nothing fun or relaxing about that. It sounds like hard work without a lot of compliments or confirmation.
So why do it?
Simply put, Paul was “marching to the beat of a different drummer”. He wasn’t focused at all on himself, only on what Jesus wanted from him. He believed that God wanted him to share in this city, and that’s what he did. Therefore, the converts were proof of a successful mission.
Which brings me to my one thought today:
Why would we ever complain about the amount of money we make, the resistance to the Gospel (none, really) or the large amount of hard work that must be done? As long as we are doing what Christ told us to do, what possible difference does anything else make? If the work is hard…so what, Jesus never said it would be easy. If it’s low pay…so what, Jesus never guaranteed riches….or fame, or anything else.
What’s guaranteed is a reward in heaven, a home in heaven and a new body in which to enjoy all of our heavenly riches in.
In the meantime, we should follow Paul’s example, and celebrate salvations and the birth of new congregations.
And in spite of all the hardships….in fact, maybe because of all the hardships….Paul cares deeply about the people of the church. Even though he is unable to visit them and help in physical ways, he continues to pray for them, celebrate their growth as he praise the Lord.
For those of us who have visited a different region on a mission trip, we certainly can relate to how Paul feels. You long to be there, especially with the people that you have led to Christ! But at the same time, you realize that you cannot…so you pray, celebrate with them, cry and agonize when they are suffering, and long for the day you will all be together in heaven.
Continuing,
PR