Trusting his Work
You … have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Colossians 3:9b-10
Trusting his Work – Women’s Devotion
Have you ever ended a day wondering what you actually accomplished? I sure have! Despite our best efforts, laundry piles return, meals disappear in minutes, ministry efforts seem unnoticed, and difficult relationships don’t improve. Is our work invisible? Effective? Worth the effort?
Allow me to transport your weary mind to a peaceful village by the sea. A father asks his young son to take a bucket down to the shore, fill it, and bring it back. The boy obeys, and the next day the father asks again. This goes on day after day. The boy becomes frustrated because the bucket has holes in it, and by the time he walks back from the sea, the water has leaked out. He feels his labor is wasted, he is exhausted, and the task seems pointless.
Finally, the boy complains: “Dad, what is the point? The bucket is broken, and no water makes it back to you.”
The father tells him to look inside the bucket. The boy realizes that while the bucket did not hold water, the constant flow of seawater had washed away all the dirt and grime inside it. The bucket was clean, whereas before it had been filthy and unusable.
The father says: “The purpose wasn’t to bring the water to me. The purpose was to clean the bucket.”
We strive to do what our Father asks us to do in our various roles. The human thing to do is measure our success in the form of finished projects or visible results. Thankfully, the measure of our work isn’t always visible. The boy focused on the water while his father focused on the bucket. Likewise, you and I can get caught up in outcomes while our heavenly Father works on our hearts.
There are times when we feel ineffective, we face disappointments, or our efforts seem wasted. It is in that friction, in the constant swishing and swashing of life, that God is at work. That’s how Jesus said discipleship would be—carrying heavy things (Mark 8:34), striving, but not always seeing what God sees (Matthew 5:8).
After Jesus’ saving work on earth was done, he promised the Holy Spirit to guide us in truth (John 16:13) and help us grow spiritually (Ephesians 3:16). The Holy Spirit’s work is largely invisible, yet immensely effective. And Jesus promised results: “‘Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive” (John 7:38-39).
Whenever you and I are in the Word, the Holy Spirit is quietly, faithfully doing his work. (The church word we use for this process is “sanctification.”) We don’t always see how God is working, but we can trust that he is not wasting our time. He is purifying us, transforming us into the image of his Son (Colossians 3:10).
Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help me remain in the Word as I go about the tasks of today, tomorrow, and the next day. Help me trust that as a redeemed child of God, I am being purified and set apart for the work you intend me to do. Amen.
Written by Angie Molkentin
