Not Weary in Well Doing

I heard a scripture this morning and felt it applied to my post yesterday:

"For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another... And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."  Galatians 6:3-4,9

It is interesting that the phrase 'be not weary in well doing' is repeated in other places in the scriptures. 

"For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.  Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.  But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing."  2 Thes 3:11-13

And

"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.  Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days."  Doc&Cov 64:33-34

In all of these scriptural examples the encouragement to continue in service is paired with additional counsel. Each piece of added counsel teaches us about the nature of our service. They teach about remembering our dependence on God (as I discussed in yesterday's post), about useless cares (ie. busybodies), and the necessity of willing and obedient servants. 

Something that is implied by the encouragement to not be weary in well doing is that service is hard! We are not horrible people if we find service to be hard. The Thessalonians reference is originally directed to the twelve apostles. Even they had to be encouraged because the work was hard. 

This is connected to a phrase I've heard tossed around in Mormonism lately - "I can do hard things." When I first heard it I felt that it was cheesy, a silly piece of motivation. Problem is, this concept continues to pop up! It is easy to be convinced that our lives are all about striving to reach a point where we can rest, to be wealthy and comfortable. Socially supported retirement is a perfect example of the great value our culture places on attaining relaxation as an end.  Reality is that comfort and relaxation is a waste of our vision. Do we really work all our lives so that we can reach a point at which we do nothing and have no value to society? It is a completely flawed concept. (I'm glad to see many retirees sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience with the world through service and work despite being past retirement age. They push aside the flawed concept of work to attain rest.)

If we're not working to receive a reward like rest (rest isn't much of a reward), what are we working for? That is an answer with a multitude of answers but the answer that pertains to my post is that we are working for the benefit of our fellow man. Which is hard. Which can be a part of our lives no matter our age. Which is more likely to happen if we truly understand God's plan for his children and our place in it. 

Comments

[readerMom]

1.

To take your thought even further, we believe that we don't rest in the afterlife either. As far as I know, we are the only Christian denomination that thinks the work continues after we are dead. The traditional Heaven sounds terribly boring.