2025 인터넷 사역 한국으로 넷째날을 뒤돌아보면서 하나님께 감사드리는 이유: 1. 인간적으로 볼 때 결코 감사할 수없는 상황임에도 불구하고 이렇게 감사의 글을 이 새벽에라도 쓰게 하시기에 2. 인생의 위기와 고통 속에서 오히려 예수님의 비천함을 묵상케하시고 예수님의 비천함이 우리의 비천함이 되게하고 계심을 믿음의 눈으로 엿보게 되었기에 3. 가정의 고난과 고통 속에서도 믿음의 주님이시요 온전케하시는 주님만을 바라보게 하고 계시기에 4. 하나님께서 준비해 놓으신 사람들을 그 때 그 때 보내주시사 마음을 준비케하여 주시고 주님의 때에 주님의 뜻대로 적합한 결단을 내리게 하실 것이기에 5. 마음 문을 열어주시고 마음의 이야기를 쏟아내게 하셨기에 6. 반갑고 즐겁고 의미있는 만남과 대화들을 하게 하셨기에 7. 인간의 이성과 지혜로는 이해할 수 없는 일들을 겪는 가운데서도 하나님의 주권을 믿음으로 인정케 하셨고 지금도 인정케 하고 계시기에 8. 함께 아파하고 함께 울게 하셨기에 9. 목사님의 극심한 고통과 심지어 죽음의 문턱에서도 생명을 연장시켜주신 하나님의 뜻이 있음을 믿음으로 고백케 하셨기에 10. 가짜 목사와 가짜 복음을 경계해야 함과 동시에 교회 지도자들의 회개의 필요성을 인정 및 고백케 하셨기에.
Do not grow weary
"But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good" (2 Thessalonians 3:13).
We have been saved through faith by God's grace (Eph. 2:8). As God’s masterpiece, we are created in Christ Jesus for good works (v. 10). Therefore, we must do good (Ps. 34:14; Rom. 13: 3, 1 Pet. 3:11). We must do good as we depart from evil (Ps. 37:27) as we delight ourselves in the Lord (v. 4). Those who do good belong to God (3 Jn. 11). However, there are times when we grow weary of doing good. Why do we grow weary? I thought about four reasons:
The first reason why we grow weary of doing good is because the person who receives good from us doesn’t appreciate us.
We can be disappointed when we don’t get any appreciation from the person whom we love, serve and do good with Christ’s love. And the cause of our disappointment is because we expect something from that person such as appreciation. It is because our good deed is conditional. That’s why we are sensitive to the reaction of the other party. And we are both disheartened and discouraged when we don’t see any reaction as much as we expected.
The second reason why we grow weary of doing good is because the person is not only appreciating us but also he criticizes us and condemn us.
Of course, that person will not directly condemn us with a voice of criticism. But when we hear his criticism and condemnation through someone else, then we can be discouraged and grow weary. And the question that may arise in our mind is ‘Why do I have to do good while listening this kind of criticism and condemnation from other people?’ I think it is impossible for human being to keep on doing good to another person when he pays back our good with evil.
The third reason why we grow weary of doing good is because we can’t see any transformation from the person to whom we are doing good.
We can grow weary when we don’t see any good change in the life of the person to whom we diligently do good with Christ’s love despite all the good work we did for him. It’s like a farmer who planted seeds, gave manure and water, and waited and expected to bear fruit but where there is no fruit, he can get discouraged. Likewise, we as God’s spiritual farmers plant the seed of His gospel and Word and diligently give tears of prayers and the Word. But if there is no good fruits but only the bad fruits, then we can be discouraged and grow weary.
The fourth reason why we grow weary of doing good is because of “myself”.
My personal thought is that "myself" is the biggest reason why we grow weary in doing good. Whether the person to whom we do good appreciates us or not, whether he criticizes and condemns us or not, whether we see good fruits or bad fruits in his life, we just need to obey God’s command of doing good to others unconditionally as we experience God’s goodness in our lives (Ps. 34:8). But the reason we cannot do that is because we are not continually and fully tasting God's goodness in our lives. That’s why we get discouraged and grow weary with various reasons. Especially when we cannot experience God’s good work of causing all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28), not only that we aren’t but we can’t do good to others. That’s why not only we grow weary because of ourselves but we can be in despair.
We have to do good. And we should not be discouraged and grow weary when we do good. The reason is that our labors are not in vain in the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58). I hope and pray that we may continually do good to others as we rely on God today and tomorrow.
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