Do not grow weary
Paul on the long obedience
Let us not grow weary in doing good, Paul writes, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. He names a specific exhaustion — not the weariness of doing evil, but of doing good, for a long time, without visible return. The harvest is promised, but in due season, which may be far off. The danger is giving up in the long gap between sowing and reaping.
Endurance in leadership is largely this: continuing to do good long after the initial energy is gone and before the results have come. Anyone can do good in a burst; the test is sustaining it through the weary middle, when the reaping seems distant and quitting seems reasonable. Paul's encouragement is double: the harvest is real, and the only way to forfeit it is to give up before it comes. So do not grow weary — the season is coming.
“Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
— Paul, on labor not in vain — 1 Corinthians 15:58 (WEB)
Endurance is doing good through the weary middle, after the energy is gone and before the harvest comes. The only way to forfeit the reaping is to give up before it arrives.
“Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don't give up.”
Paul names the specific exhaustion of sustained good without visible return. A leader formed here keeps going in the gap between sowing and reaping. The inner work is perseverance when quitting seems reasonable.
Keep doing good through the long, unrewarded middle, trusting the harvest will come in due season. Steady yourself and your team against the weariness of delayed results. Refuse to give up before the reaping.
Leaders sustain good work in bursts but quit in the weary middle, just before the harvest. The blind spot is mistaking the delay of results for their absence.
Identify one good work you are tempted to abandon for lack of results. This week, persevere in it, trusting the season to come.
Anyone can do good in a burst; the test is sustaining it through the weary middle, when the reaping seems distant and quitting seems reasonable.
Where are you tempted to give up on doing good, just because the harvest has not yet come?