Most people I meet want to do something significant with their life. They may not say they want to do something big, but they want to live a significant life, that has purpose and meaning.
Sometimes, we wonder if we missed our chance or if it isn’t our time just yet.
But I wonder if we go after significance all wrong.
The people that most would say do something significant, who make it, change the world, what we see is that last moment — the product, the platform, the book, podcast, the company, or church that explodes.
What we don’t see are all the small steps along the way.
Recently I preached on a verse that I’ve read a bunch of times but struck me in a new way.
In Galatians 6:9, Paul says: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Don’t become weary in doing good? How is that possible? But all of us have grown weary of doing good.
We have become weary staying pure while we wait for a spouse, we have grown weary of being the only one with integrity at work; the only one who tries in the relationship.
Growing weary can mean to give up, to be discouraged, tired, rundown. It is wondering when our hopes and dreams will come true, not always the big ones but even the small ones of being noticed, loved, and cared for.
And when this happens, we lose hope.
We can lose hope when the platform doesn’t grow like we’d hope, when our family isn’t what we dreamed of, when our career doesn’t go as planned or when no one seems to notice us, they don’t see what we’re doing or how much we’re doing.
Some of you are parenting young kids and you wonder if you will ever have a normal life again or be able to go after your dreams that you once had and you need to hear, don’t lose hope. Or you wonder if all that you’re doing for your kids is doing anything and you are weary. Don’t lose hope.
Some of you feel like you are the only one trying in a relationship, you are the one serving, and you need to hear, don’t lose hope, don’t grow weary.
Or you’re tired of having faith because it doesn’t seem to go anywhere. You wonder, when is God going to hear my prayer, when is God going to let me have that breakthrough and be noticed. I’m tired of being in the background. Don’t grow weary. Don’t lose hope.
Why?
At the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we don’t give up.
Paul says if we don’t grow weary, we reap a harvest. Your harvest might be how you serve, and that sets someone else up for something. The way you help your kids might be what changes the world. The way you serve your spouse, your friends, your boss, or neighbor. You don’t know what God is going to do. Someone might stand on your shoulders or stand on the shoulders of someone you serve and give your all.
Andy Stanley said, “The greatest contribution you make to the kingdom of God might not be something you do but someone you raise.”
All of us have been impacted by somebody. That person didn’t give up on doing good. The person who impacted them didn’t give up. The point is we never know where our impact and influence will go.
The harvest that I experience in life is because someone along the way didn’t grow weary with me. They didn’t give up on me. Small group leaders, mentors, coaches, parents, teachers, and friends all along the way are part of whatever I do and accomplish.
Too often we underestimate the power of the little things in life and the impact they can make. Yes, big things and audacious goals change the world. But so do small, seemingly insignificant things. A hug, your presence, helping someone move, a listening ear. Don’t underestimate the power of the little things.
Here’s one of the biggest temptations I see among Christians. So many people want to do great things for God; we want to change the world. We want to start this or that, have this platform, start this company that will change the world, release a product into the world that changes everything, write a book, have a huge following online, when we are unwilling to do the little everyday things that God has put in front of them because it isn’t big enough.
The other side of this is when we feel like something isn’t big enough, and so we wonder if it is worth doing. Or, as we get older and look at our lives and think, “Have I done anything significant?”
And don’t miss this: the little moment that seems insignificant can become something more significant in the hands of God. Don’t overlook the small things because you don’t know what God is doing.
It might be because it is too hard, it might be because it is taking so long.
But don’t grow weary in doing the good right in front of you.
