Faithful Until the Harvest 等候收获

[Dexu Xia]

Faithful Until the Harvest

Let us not become weary in doing good.

A woman I know planned an event at a local park and invited all the neighborhood children to participate. She was excited about the opportunity to share her faith with her neighbors.  She recruited her three grandchildren and two high school students to help her, gave the assignments, planned a number of games and other activities, prepared food, prepared a Bible story about Jesus to present to the children, and waited for them to gather.  Not a single child showed up the first day. Or the second day. Or the third day. Yet, each day my friend went through that day’s activities with her grandchildren and helpers.  On the fourth day, she noticed a family picnicking nearby and invited the children to join in the games. One little girl came, entered into the fun, ate with them, and listened to the story about Jesus. Perhaps years from now she’ll remember. Who knows what the outcome will be?

God, through the book of Galatians, encourages us, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people” (6:9–10).  Don’t worry about numbers or other visible measures of success. Our job is to be faithful to what He wants us to do and then leave the harvest to Him. God determines the outcomes.

What best-laid plans of yours have gone wrong? How can you learn to trust God with the outcome despite disappointment?

God, I’m grateful that You’re the one in charge of the results. You’re the one at work. Help me to do what You ask no matter what will be the outcome.

等候收获

我们行善，不可丧志。—加拉太书6章9节

我的一位朋友计划在当地的公园举办活动，并邀请附近的所有孩子来参加。她为着有机会与邻居分享自己的信仰而感到兴奋。她招募自己的三个孙子和两名中学生来帮忙，她分派工作，为孩子们设计许多游戏和活动，准备餐点，还预备了一个有关耶稣的儿童圣经故事，然后满心期待地等候孩子们来参加活动。第一天没有孩子出现，第二天还是一样，第三天也没有一人到场。但她每天仍旧与孙子和助手认真地安排活动。到了第四天，她看到一个家庭在附近野餐，于是就邀请孩子们来玩游戏。一个小女孩来了，和他们一起玩游戏、一起用餐，聆听关于耶稣的故事。也许在多年以后，这个小女孩仍然会记得耶稣的故事，我们都不知道结果会如何，对吗？

上帝透过加拉太书鼓励我们：“我们行善，不可丧志；若不灰心，到了时候就要收成。所以，有了机会，就当向众人行善。”（6章9-10节）我们不用担心人数多少，也无须用其他可见的方式来计算成果。我们要做的是忠于主所托付的工作，然后把收成交给祂，让上帝来决定结果。

上帝啊，我要感谢祢，因祢是掌管结果，也是在人心中动工的主宰。不管祢要做我什么，求祢帮助我能全然顺服祢。

你曾仔细制定哪些计划，但最后却出了问题呢？尽管结果令人失望，你要如何学习信靠上帝呢？