Labour of Love

https://odb.org/MY/2022/12/04/a-labor-of-love

One of the fundamental principles of faith that is often preached is the concept that obedience is better than sacrifice. This is particularly crucial in our service for God. It is very aptly illustrated by Saul when he disobeyed the rule that only the priest may offer sacrifices unto the LORD and lost his throne as a result. At the deeper level, it means we respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, rather than we deciding what we want to do even if the latter involves more of a sacrifice on our part. To illustrate, it is better to give RM1,000 to someone God prompts us compared to giving RM2,000 to someone else we ourselves want to give, although it costs us more in the case of the latter.

Another principle in our service for God is that faithfulness is more important than success. So, a minister of God faithfully serving a congregation of 50 over 20 years is better than he moving around until he ministers to a congregation of 1,000. Or looking at it another way, it is better for a minister to be faithful to his calling to a ministry of 50 rather than to strive to grow that congregation to 1,000 as a sign of success. In His service, faithfulness is the virtue we strive for, not success as we want to hear Jesus commend us on that day – come to your rest, true and faithful servant!

Thus, as we know, every one of us has a specific and unique role to play in the Kingdom of God. We are each that brick that makes up that wall. Our goal is to fulfil God’s plans and purposes for our lives. We want to live in the midst of His will for us. Be faithful in what God gives us. We may not be reaching out to thousands and millions, yet to the few whom we minister to, our message is meaningful and crucial. For example, my blog has around 70 views a day, but I continue to do this and send out my commentaries each day that I’m able. Should I cease since I only have 70 daily views? Of course, 70 is better than 5, but it is a far cry from 3,000 or 5,000. In the end, for me, faithfulness to God is still better than success. We do what we can. We do our best within the sphere of influence God has appointed for us. We want to be that true and faithful servant, not necessarily that successful servant of God.