Our Duty Our Joy

We have a calling to achieve, a purpose to fulfill and a commandment to obey. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” Matthew 28:19-20).

We have been empowered by God to accomplish all He has given us to do. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).

God does not promise we will be “successful” as measured by the number of people who respond. However, He does require that we be faithful to our calling. God told Isaiah that the people would not listen to his message “the hearts of this people [are] insensitive, their ears dull and their eyes dim” (Isaiah 6:9-10).

Likewise He told Jeremiah, “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.” (Jeremiah 7:27).

We also know that God promised, “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

He does not promise we will see immediate results. Paul described the process where one plants another waters, but it is “God who causes the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:7-8). Jesus acknowledges that may experience rejection and may even have to “shake the dust off your feet” when our message is rejected (Matthew 10:14).

He encourages us “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” (Galatians 6:9). President John Quincy Adams noted “Duty is ours; results are God’s.”

God calls us to be faithful sowers of the gospel (Matthew 13:3-9). “Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good” (Ecclesiastes 11:6).

Do not worry that you lack formal training in evangelism, “God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking - it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:19-20).

One day a lady criticized DL Moody for his methods of sharing the Gospel. Moody replied “I agree with you. I don’t like the way I do it either. Tell me, how do you do it?” She replied, “I don’t do it.” Moody responded, “I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”

May we be like Isaiah, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” (Isaiah 6:8). Trust God and speak truth.