While travelling in Eastern Europe recently I had to negotiate a very rough road surface for about 100 km [approx 63 miles]. Over the space of a few days I had to cover the same ground a number of times until it came to the point where I longed to escape from it and find a better surface and an easier pathway, but there was no alternative.
In the spiritual realm self always wants an easier pathway but to fulfil God’s will, and to be faithful in His work, we can’t escape the hardships of the rough roads in life. John Knox once said, “Seldom is it that God works any notable work in His Church but that trouble, fear, and labour come upon such as God has used for His servants and His workmen, and also tribulation must commonly follow the Church where Jesus Christ is most fully preached.”
In such circumstances there is always the danger of being tempted to make our own judgements on the success or otherwise of our Christian service. Of course this does not mean there is no place in the Christian life for self-examination, or self-discipline, as Scripture teaches otherwise, and Paul clearly taught such principles. In the end it is not self-judgement that is of ultimate significance … there is always the danger that we can overestimate our worth to make ourselves feel good. D A Carson says, ” Feeling good about your ministry may have some limited utility somewhere, but surely it has no ultimate significance. You may think more highly of your service than God does, you may think less of your service than God does, but if you are constantly trying to please yourself, to make self-esteem your ultimate goal, then you are forgetting whose servant you are, whom you must strive to please.”
At a time when emphases seem to be on living for self, and for the ‘here and now’, the Christian needs to be reminded of what we were in our sin and what God’s grace has done for us in saving us and giving us the privilege of living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
We also must keep in mind that there is a day of reckoning coming when ‘we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ’. This will be a judgement of the deeds done in the body. The important thing then will be, not the quantity of our works, but the quality. What we may have considered to be very important may go to the bottom of the pile. Then all that religious activity and self-employed talents will be burned with fire and only that which was wrought by the Holy Spirit, and for God’s glory, will stand forever. Then all the wrong attitudes towards others and wrong motives in service, will be exposed. In the light of this we need to repent of our sin so that that day will not be one of fear but of comfort, when we hear His ‘Well done.’
Therefore it is important, when our way is arduous and we only see one step at a time, to keep the path between ourselves and the Lord well trodden. In our Christian living we will be thrown more and more upon God and called to face conditions difficult and almost impossible as we continue our pilgrimage to the Celestial City, but our hope is sure. In the end it’s not how we begin that matters, or how we perform mid-term, but how we finish.
