If I cast my mind back, way back, I can remember things I heard as a child. Sometimes, a recollection occurs at the oddest times. For instance, recently and for no apparent reason, this phrase just popped into my head, "Well...THAT did a lot of good." Now mind you, when I first heard this, I was much too young and inexperienced with language to understand sarcasm, much less appreciate it. But, as time went on I was able to make a connection with the phrase and the fact that something had just "gone-wrong."
Example:
Mama had cleaned and scrubbed us right down to our shoes, and we were ready for Sunday School. As she herded us toward the car, she may have noticed that someone had deliberately tromped through a mud puddle, instead of around it, and she would exclaim, "Well, that did a lot of good!" At some point I realized that she meant her effort, not the puddle.
And so it seems that from time to time, our best efforts are thwarted, and made to no avail. Eventually, we might even question why we try anymore. This feeling can be directed at circumstances or relationships, the feeling is the same, nothing is working right, it's all gone-wrong.
Well, if you have ever experienced something like this, you're not alone. Paul, the apostle...not the Beatle, once said that he was the "least likely to succeed," because of what he had done in the past...he had recklessly persecuted the church. He thought that he would never get away from who he had been. But, then he added this powerful revelation, "But, by the grace (unmerited favor) of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me WAS NOT IN VAIN." (I Corinthians 15: 9,10)
Did you get that?! The grace of God in our lives is an investment that He is not willing to risk a loss on. We are who we are, with all of our shortcomings and imperfections, and that will never change.
What WILL change, what MUST change, is how we see ourselves through His eyes...an investment of His grace. And THAT did a lot of good! By His amazing grace, we were saved, ransomed from the fall, and we will live forever with Him one day.
So, when you get discouraged, and you sometimes will, just remember that nothing we do of or for Him is ever in vain. We may not even see the fruit from our efforts, but we must not think, "Well, THAT did a lot of good." Just trust and obey. We are not responsible for the outcome, just the obedience required. Always do your best...and leave the rest...up to HIM!
