바울의 마지막 문안 인사 (30) 바울 은 마지막 문안 인사에서 이렇게 말씀했습니다 : “아킵보에게 이르기를 주 안에서 받은 직분을 삼가 이루라고 하라” ( 골 4:17). 아킵보는 자신의 직분을 충분히 입증하라는 말씀 입니다 . 신약성경에 나타난 주요 직분으로는 목사 , 장로 , 집사 등이 있습니다 . 직분자들은 자신의 직분을 충분히 입증하기 위해선 (1) 그리스도 예수님께 감사해야 합니다 . 디모데전서 1 장 12 절입니다 : “나에게 힘을 주신 우리 주 그리스도 예수님께 내가 감사하는 것은 나를 충성스러운 사람으로 여겨 나에게 직분을 맡겨 주셨기 때문입니다 . ” 바울은 자신이 예수 그리스도를 믿지 않았을 때에 모르고 하나님을 모독하고 성도들을 핍박하던 난폭한 사람이었는데 하나님께서 자신을 불쌍히 여겨 주시사 회심케하셨을 뿐만 아니라 사명을 주시사 이방인의 사도로 세우셨기에 예수님께 감사했습니다 . (2) 은혜의식 속에서 더 많이 수고해야 합니다 . 고린도전서 15 장 8-10 절입니다 : “맨 나중에는 부족하기 짝이 없는 내게도 나타나셨습니다 . 나는 사도들 중에 가장 보잘것없는 사람이며 하나님의 교회를 박해했기 때문에 사도라고 불릴 자격마저 없습니다 . 그러나 오늘날 내가 이렇게 된 것은 하나님의 은혜로 된 것이며 내게 주신 그분의 은혜가 헛되지 않아 내가 다른 모든 사도들보다 더 많이 일했습니다 . 그렇지만 그것은 내가 한 것이 아니라 나와 함께 하신 하나님의 은혜였습니다 . ” 그래서 그는 은혜 의식 속에서 다른 모든 사도들보다 더 많이 일을 했습니다 . 우리도 그 리 해야 합니다 .
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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