“God,” I cried, “why does this have to be us?” Formerly headed on the right track to a life serving Jesus, he had worked hard, read his Bible every day, and become a close follower of Godly men. Now it had suddenly seemed as though everything he had learned he had totally thrown away. The work my dad put into him, the prayers everyone prayed for him, and the love and acceptance we had tried to show him seemed worthless. He left our home and returned to the city and the pull of his biological family; a life of drugs, girls, and depression. After we had all grown to love him as family he left God and us.
In 1 Corinthians 3:6&7 Paul says, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” As stated in these verses, we may plant seeds of truth in other peoples’ hearts, but it is God who will cause those seeds to grow and give the increase. Matthew 9:37 reads, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.” God calls us to spread His word.
As happened to me, you may have helped someone, or prayed for them everyday, or just been there to listen and in the end they just walked away and seemed to forget everything you ever told them. Remember, if you do what God wants you to do, your work is done; God will take care of the rest. In Isaiah 55:11 it says, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Truthfully, God doesn’t need our help to spread His word, but He has chosen us to help Him, so let’s do the job with zeal.
Statistics say that it takes on average 50 encounters with a Godly person/people until someone will give their life to God. This encourages me, because if I help someone and they walk away from God I remember that I could be number 49 and the next person will lead them back to Christ.
Loving and helping people who are hurt frequently results in the helper getting hurt, but don’t let that dissuade you from helping; love is vulnerable, but we have to risk that. We are better off loving, getting hurt, and growing from it than never having loved at all.
Even though the people that you help may turn their backs on God remember that His Word will not return void.
Blogging credits to Kinza Weaver
pursuingourpurpose.com 