Is My Work In Vain? A Puzzling Question From The Messiah

This next verse always has sounded strange to me. They don’t sound like words that would come from a perfect Messiah. But I said, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. How could Jesus say these things? They seem so hopeless! But think about what Jesus went through. His own townspeople tried to throw Jesus off of a cliff. His own family tried to take control of Jesus when He was in His public ministry because they thought He was out of His mind - overly obsessed with His ministry. (Mark 3:21) The religious leaders of His day all rejected Him and claimed He was demon possessed. No matter how many miracles He performed, even raising Lazarus from the dead after FOUR DAYS, they only wanted to kill Jesus. Living in humility, within the confines of reason, you would have to wonder, “What good is all of this work doing?”

Maybe this troubles us because we equate faith with putting on a happy face, as if people with faith could never wonder how this all works out in the end? We seem to equate faith with optimism. But there is also reality to deal with. As a pastor, it is very sad for me to see so many young adults just abandon worship and Christian living so quickly after being confirmed. So many seem to openly ignore what they’ve been taught in the Third Commandment or the Sixth Commandment. Here you spend hours and hours teaching the basics of the Bible, and what good does it all do in the end? I’m sure you’ve had the same frustrations with your children and grandchildren - it’s even more personal for you. Or maybe it’s an inner turmoil, where you keep on repenting and keep on seeking strength to deal with a weakness, but it keeps on coming back again and again. Some just give up and quit. Why even try?

But it’s interesting to see how Jesus deals with this seeming lack of production and return for His work. He says, “Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” He entrusted the reward to God. He let God the Father take care of the results. It reminds me of the classic movie “The Karate Kid.” Daniel is told by Mr. Miyagi, “Wax on, wax off.” Hour after hour he goes, and he finally blows up and demands to know what good it is to do the wax on and wax off. So finally Mr. Miyagi starts throwing punches at Daniel, only to have him feign off the blocks by using the same motion he was using to put the wax on and the wax off. Then it all made sense. Jesus, however, didn’t throw a fit and demand to see results. He just trusted that the results would be what they would be. He would only do what God called Him to do. He’d keep swinging the sword and using the arrows in hopes that sooner or later the weapons would hit their mark and people would see that He really was the Messiah.

God calls us to be faithful. He doesn’t call us to be successful. Don’t we need the same reminders in life? How often do we quit and give up because we aren’t getting the results we wanted. So we stop praying for someone. We stop reaching out. We stop taking care of someone that needs our help, because we don’t get the appreciation we wanted. When we quit, or when we complain the whole time we are doing something, we aren’t being faithful. Leave the rewards up to God. Be faithful in the way you raise your children. Be faithful in prayer. Be faithful at your job. Be faithful as a spouse.