Immediately following on his instruction on pure, undefiled love Paul moves on to describe how that applies to ministry in general. As I read these words today one thing stuck out – they all deal with constancy and simply continuing on.
It would be wonderful if serving the Lord were all bells and whistles. It would be great if it were all excitement and successes. Sad thing is, in reality it most often is not.
Look at Paul’s ministry verbs:
- Not lagging in your diligence
- Fervent in your spirit
- Serving the Lord
- Rejoicing in hope
- Patient in the tribulations
- Continuing steadfast in prayer
Every one of these has a spiritual focus on the things that we cannot see. None of them are conditional on the results of what we are doing. Our rejoicing comes not from what we see happening, but in the hope of what God is doing. Tribulations are going to happen – be patient. Don’t lag, be fervent, serve, and at the end of the day – continue steadfast in prayer.
I think it all hinges on the last one – if we are not continue in prayer than our focus becomes earthly, not eternal and we can’t do any of the rest.
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