Do Not Grow Weary in Doing Good
I read an autobiography of an Armenian woman who survived the massacres in the 1890s. One of the points she made was that a young Armenian girl learned to keep house from her mother but learned to cook from her mother-in-law. I can’t say that I have had a lot of success with that. She made great manti (food), which I eat, but have never learned to make.
The Armenian food that I make is of the simpler variety. What is it that puts people off learning some of the tastier Armenian foods, leaving it to their grandmothers or the professionals? The answer is: a lot of work, that is not difficult, but time consuming.
What is it that inspires us to learn to make these foods? Usually, the reward of joy set before us. We will be blessed in the end, as will our family. When my mother-in-law made manti, she made enough for each of her 7 children to take home and feed their families. What would happen if part way through the manti recipe you decided that you weren’t seeing any results, so you gave it up? Would that make sense? Is it understandable? Maybe you got through a little bit of dough, enough for one serving for one person in your family. How would that go over? The reason we make these great dishes is the reward of both sharing and eating them. And we are pretty sure to get appreciation for it.
There are other things in our lives that are time consuming, and for which we aren’t necessarily appreciated when we do them, although we may hear about it if we don’t do them. Cleaning the bathroom, getting the laundry done, dinner on the table every night.
Do we ever get tired of doing the same things? They are good things, needing to be done, but no tangible relatively quick reward like there is with manti. Then there are the things that you do for church, or for your kids’ school, or community.
Let us get to Scripture. 2 Thessalonians 3:13 says “But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.” First, we see in this exhortation/command that Paul concedes that is quite possible to grow weary in doing good.
In Galatians 6:9 Paul says, “Let us not lose heart (be discouraged) in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” Paul uses an agricultural metaphor here: we will reap if we do not grow weary. A farmer must do all the things from plowing, planting, waiting, then harvesting. It does not happen overnight. If a farmer walks away halfway through the process, he will not be able to reap anything. So, having told them that they will reap a harvest if they persevere, then he tells them to go out and do good to all people, especially Christians.
It is not just biting the bullet and get through this, but okay, there is going to be a reward, a blessing, let’s go out and do more good to more people.
But say we are discouraged, have lost heart, are weary. 2 Corinthians 3:18-4:1 says “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart.” Here Paul tells us how they did not lose heart. THEY RECEIVED MERCY
If you look in the early part of the quote, what had they been doing? They had been beholding the glory of the Lord and were being transformed from glory to glory. THEY RECEIVED MERCY.
Once again, we find if we look ahead ‘to the glory set before us,’ we can continue our work. We have to realize the value of what we are doing, that it is the Lord’s work, and the results are His.
Heather Jean Torosyan