June 9 I Thursday

2 Chronicles 32-33

John 18:19-40

“The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labour. For we are fellow workers in God’s service.”   

—1 Corinthians 3:8-9

Some of us may put certain people or certain gifts on a pedestal and create artificial distinctions between certain people and others. I remember getting a letter from a man who told me that they had a baptism in their church the previous Sunday. They baptized four teenage boys, who each gave a testimony as part of their baptism. The man wrote, “I’m writing to tell you this because all four boys said that you had led them to Christ, and I thought this would encourage you.” Of course, this encouraged me tremendously, but when he gave me the names of the four boys, I did not know any one of them. 

       How did this happen? I was preaching at an event where these four boys came to know Christ. I did not talk to them personally; I did not know anything about them. Some of these boys may have come from Christian homes, and ever since their birth, their parents dedicated them to Christ. Over the years, their parents prayed for them, Sunday School teachers taught them the Word of God and Youth leaders spent time with them. Years of planting the seed, watering the seed and fertilizing the seed came to fruition one day at a particular meeting where I happened to be the preacher. These boys came to Christ, but I did not follow up with them; somebody else did, who came alongside to disciple and invest their time in them. Yet, when they gave their testimonies, they said, “Charles Price led me to Christ.” But this is not how God sees all that. 

       I have met Christians who feel like they have spent years doing ministry and do not see any results from it. While, during this lifetime, we may not see the fruit, we will get a shock on Judgment Day when the real story is told. God has called each of us to minister and to share His good news to a lost and broken world.  

       Paul tells us, “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow” (1 Corinthians 3:5-7). Even though we may never preach a sermon in our life behind a pulpit, there are lives that we touch on a day-to-day basis as fellow workers in God’s service. 

Prayer: Lord Heavenly Father, whether or not I see fruit from my labour, please help me to keep pressing on in my work for Your kingdom, remembering that You are the one who makes things grow. Thank You, Lord.