Keep On

1 Cor. 15:56

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Some times we get discouraged in our labor for the Lord because of our walk in this life. I think the most discouragement comes to me becuse of all the mistakes I've made. Times when I have been selfish, run ahead of the Lord or been so prideful that I thought I was in control and knew best. Yes, what a foolish way to live life considering the enlightenment that comes from that moment of salvation. That moment which brings us into His presence for all eternity. But we all do this. We all mess up, sin, think we know best and take off in our own specific directions. None of which are the directions God has laid before us. These mistakes and wrong turns discourage me the most.

But praise be to our Lord and Savior. He knew our lives and the directions and the mistakes long before we were even born. He accepted us, saved and delivered us from the domain of darkness anyway. Not only did He do all this, He allowed us, imperfect us, to share in the Labor in the Lord.

Let's look at what that means:

Labor in the Lord. By now you all know I like to take things to the simplest explaination. Labor means a job, work. In the Lord means something He gave us to do, something He lays before us to do, something we know beyond a doubt He wants us to do. This assingnment is not something we do on our own. He thouroughly intends to do the specifice work through us. We simply get the privilege of working along side Him. His superatural process in, through, and around us accomplishes this work.

Then this verse gives us great encouagement. It says that the Labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Not in vain. Regardless of what He has called us to do, it will take place and it is not done in vain. In other words, He will accomplish what He wants to accomplish regardless of how slow, how inadequate or how poorly we think we did the job. He makes it happen. We are asked to stand firm, to continue, to keep on.