STICKING TO OUR TASKS

We need patience to accomplish our goals in life. Even when our situation is not ideal, it is important to persevere and make the most of what we have.

Most of us experience times when we are frustrated with our jobs or feel so unappreciated that we want to quit. However, before making a rash decision, we should look to God and His Word for guidance. Basing our decisions solely on our emotions or circumstances is not a wise thing to do, because these are unstable. If we cannot stick to our tasks through thick and thin, we risk being “double-minded and unstable in all [that we] do.”

The Bible says that God who has begun a good work in us will perform it to the very end. God always likes to finish what He starts, but in order to accomplish His purposes through us, He needs our cooperation.

Many of the great world-changers stuck to their tasks and persevered, even though it took a long time for any results to become visible. William Carey, the pioneer missionary to India who began a new wave in world missions, labored faithfully for years, learning the local languages and translating the Bible, but with little visible success. He suffered personal tragedy as well, losing a young son to dysentery, while his wife suffered a nervous breakdown. Yet Carey persevered and left behind an invaluable Christian heritage.

Sometimes, even though we don’t see much fruit from our efforts, our labors can open doors for others to enter later. The Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier once worked amongst the inhabitants of the Maluku Islands, in present-day Indonesia. These savages had earned a justified reputation as cannibals and headhunters, but Xavier bravely preached and taught among them for years. However, despite his courageous efforts, Xavier gained only a few converts, and eventually had to leave without much to show for his labors. Years later, however, other Jesuits entered through the door that he had opened, and as a result, tens of thousands of the inhabitants of these islands turned to Christianity.

May God help us to stick to the tasks that He calls us to do, and may we continue in them until we know for sure that our tasks are complete and it’s time to move on to something else.

—

James 1:8 (AKJV) A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Philippians 1:6 (AKJV) being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

1 Corinthians 3:9 (AKJV) For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.