What's The Use?

It's easy to feel 'what's the use.'

That life is for naught.

I mean, outcomes and results are seldom instantaneous.  Rather, outcomes/results, mature and ripen over time.

But in the meantime, it's easy to get discouraged, feeling that nothing is resulting from all the effort, sacrifice and devotion of our days.

This came home for me in a renewed way at the recent memorial service for Dean Miller, a leading pastor, and former Moderator, of the Church of the Brethren.

In the course of Dean's service, many persons shared, including Gene Hagenberger, District Executive for the Mid-Atlantic District Church of the Brethren.  As Gene shared, he reflected on the apparent futility of ministry, quoting William Willimon:

“A good teacher must be content to be a sower rather than a reaper.  Teachers must not expect to see immediate, specific, concrete results of their efforts.  If they have any effect upon their students, it will show up later in life, long after their students have left them.  The same can be said of the pastoral ministry.”

Gene then went on reflecting on the parable of the sower, wherein Jesus reminds us:

"...[that] unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24). 

These Jesus-words articulate the challenge of life, whether:

• a life of teaching... 
• a life of parenting... 
• a life of ministry... 
• a life of marriage...

Or any other life pursuit.  

A lot of giving, 'blood, sweat, and tears,' travail is required, as a part of us seems to die, in the sacrifice of it all. 

But such self-emptying is not for naught, Jesus suggests.  In fact, out of such seemingly worthless giving, comes the very bounty, the very fruit of life.

Overtime.

And that's the rub.  Results take time, a lot of time.

And until they develop, it feels like all of our efforts are a waste -- in vain.

"I mean, what's the use'...

• "...I've given all that I can to my kid, and he's still in trouble..."  
• "...I've given everything to this job for 20 years, and I still see no gain, no benefit..."
• "...I've given everything to this marriage, and little increased-intimacy or joy have resulted.  

 There's no denying the frustration of delayed results.  They do feel like they will never come.  Many a  psalmist agrees.  Psalm 13 is illustrative:

"...How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?  How long must I counsel in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all the day?  How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?  Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;   light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken...  (Psalm 13:1-4)

Every felt that way?  

I have.  

But I've always been struck by the way the psalmist often ends his lament.  Sure, his disappointment is undeniable and intense.  It cuts deep and feels endless.  But, nevertheless, almost in the 'next breathe,' the psalmist sings that the 'end is in sight' -- that a resolution will occur -- a harvest will come.  

"...But I have trusted in your steadfast love [nevertheless];  my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord,  because he has dealt bountifully with me..."  (Psalm 13:5-6).

Translated, in the words of Solomon, in Eccelesties 3:  

"God makes everything happen at the right time. [Though] none of us can ever fully understand all he has done..." (Eccelesties 3:11). 

Or reading the text, in reverse:  None of us can ever understand, fully, how God operates. But God can be trusted, making everything happen in His time, the right time.  For as the African-American spiritual affirms:

"...Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my work’s in vain, But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again. There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole..." 

And so, in the words of the Apostle Paul:

“…Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up..." (Galatians 6:9). 

As Gene Hagenberger continued his remarks at Dean Miller's funeral, he told a fascinating story of harvest from his own ministry:  

"...Two pastorates and a district ministry ago...I pastored the Roanoke, Ninth St. Church of the Brethren in Virlina district.  I became “pastor” to a [couple, Jeff and Linda]...tangentially connected to the congregation by virtue [of living in] a little one room white bungalow on the back corner of the church parking lot.  

I officiated Jeff and Linda’s wedding, [ending up as]...a character reference [in law enforcement proceedings that ensued]...after a rowdy reception [wherein Linda]...dropped her purse as [Jeff] tried to carry her over the bungalow threshhold... 

[Subsequently] the derringer [Linda] carried ...went off, wounding the best man in the chest, although it took them a little while to notice the blood and call the ambulance.   

I connected with more members of [Jeff and Linda's] family as my nine years [at Ninth St] went by. I married, buried, and did my best to counsel them when they came to me... 

...I remember the funeral of [extended members of Jeff and Linda's family, after they were] tragically killed when [they]...tried to pass a tractor trailer on the right side shoulder of Blacksburg Mountain. Their baby hung on the longest in the ICU...I remember the gray winter day I officiated her graveside service...[as]...the family [released] balloons [drifting] toward heaven, disappearing into the gray mist and low hanging fog.   

[Just recently, however]...I got a letter from another member of [Jeff and Linda's family] -- Ricky...I vaguely remembered him... 

...He wrote to tell me that he and his family had [now] become members of [the Ninth Street Church of the Brethren!! -- thanking] me for what my ministry had meant [to him and his family]!!   

[Ricky's unexpected, surprise outreach reminded me]: it does happen! 

Beyond our imagining -- the seeds we sow do take root -- and by the grace and power of God -- grow, and bear fruit..." 

Gene is right:  beyond our imaging, the seeds we sow do take root.

• They do grow.  
• They do bear fruit.

And so, don't be discouraged. Your life is not for naught.

Your humble contribution will have a heroic impact, far beyond anything you ever imagine.

Edward Kimbal was a Sunday School teacher determined to reach persons for Christ. One individual reached was a young boy named Dwight L. Moody. Moody, in turn, went on to reach yet others, including Wilbur Chapman. Chapman, in turn, went on to reach yet others, including Billy Sunday.  Sunday, in turn, went on to reach yet others, including Mordecai Ham. And Ham, in turn, went on to reach yet others, including...the famed evangelist...Billy Graham.  

And so, from Edward Kimbal's modest ministry-'seed,' spouted a whole array of outcomes, including the greatest evangelist in recent history.  

Your modest ministry seed might not produce a Billy Graham. But trust me, your humble servant contribution will have some heroic result.

You might not see it in your lifetime. But over time -- in God's good time -- much fruit will be borne out of your outreach -- for […God’s]…word [and ministry] shall not return…empty, but it shall accomplish that which [God purposes], and shall succeed in the thing for which [God] sent it.  (Isaiah 55:11, ESV)