Every day is a battle, let’s face it. Every day is a battle of some kind, and hard work. Most of us have hard work to do. We have struggles with all kinds of things: with our own personality and with other personalities, struggles with problems and struggles with besetting sins and struggles with this and struggles with that. Every day is a battle.
In some ways, life gets easier. I don’t have to fight the same battles that I used to have to fight when I was young. I think most young people go through half their lives wondering, “What am I going to be? What am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to do?” That’s one of the biggest problems. You’ll be whatever God wants you to be—if you’re willing. Don’t worry about it. And don’t think you’ve made the grade because you arrived at one place. You’re just getting started!
If you are faithful in a few things, the Lord says He will make you ruler over many things.1 This is only the beginning of probably much greater things and greater responsibilities, depending on how faithful you are, how well you do your work, how willing-spirited you are. Because once you’ve found out a person is faithful, diligent, willing-spirited, hard-working, capable, and really loves the Lord, you can trust them with almost anything.
You may be thinking, “I don’t want any bigger job! I like my work, and I don’t want to have to work any harder or do any more,” but that just happens to be the way the Lord often does things. If He finds you’re good at your present job, He’ll likely give you something more to do. If you’re good at little things, He’ll give you bigger things to do. If you’re good at easy jobs, He’ll give you harder jobs, and He keeps giving you greater victories all the time. If you win this battle, He’ll give you a bigger battle tomorrow.
He’s training you for much bigger jobs that you will have to do, until the time will come one of these days, that you’ll rule and reign with Him over all the earth.2 Your learning is not just going to be handed to you on a silver platter after you die or after the resurrection!
What you are learning now is going to be of help to you in the future. God’s going to use the talent that He’s already given you, which you have developed and used and profited by. He’s going to use the knowledge you have already learned and the experiences you have already been through and the languages you know. This life isn’t going to be just thrown away when you get to heaven. First of all, God’s going to use you to try to establish heaven on earth in the Millennium.
So don’t think that all this is going to be a waste of time and you’ve lived your whole life and learned all these things for nothing. God intends to use your talents, your experience, your abilities, your languages, your arts, your skills, and everything you know. If God’s people are as important as the Bible says they are, we’re pretty important!
We’re not talking about fairy tales or legends. It is not our imagination. I’m talking about reality: what’s in the Bible and what you know is the truth. God is training you now for the future. God will give you more to do as soon as He thinks you’re ready to do it, and if you’re willing to do it—because He’s got a lot of work to be done and a lot of big jobs to be done.
It’s going to mean more work, more responsibility, more jobs, because if He learns that He can trust you this far, then He’s going to trust you further and with more. If you prove yourself here, He’s going to give you a chance to do even more there.
This is no game we’re playing! We are in a war for the Lord and His world, and once you have done your job here and done a good job and learned how to serve the Lord faithfully, loyally, and well, He is going to give you something more and bigger to do. There are so many jobs to be done, you’ll probably have even a better job to do one of these days—a bigger and greater job. You’d be amazed at your capacity!
Lord, it’s all for Your kingdom, so help us all to do a good job of whatever You ask us to do. For Thine is the power. And help us, Lord, to be used of You and to use Your power for Your kingdom and serve Your kingdom until Your kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven. Help us to think about the marvel, Lord, of Your trusting us with such important work and each other and our children and a big job. And help us to do it well so we’ll be ready for the next one, we ask for Your glory.
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.—Revelation 20:43
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.—Revelation 20:64
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”
“Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.”—Revelation 22:4–75
Originally published 1978. Updated and republished October 2013.
Read by Jon Marc.
1 Matthew 25:21.
2 Revelation 5:10; 20:4,6; 22:5.
3 ESV.
4 ESV.
5 NIV.
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