Unweariedness in Well-doing.
Let us not be weary in welldoing in consequence of
I. The rivalry of other workers. (1) Note the undying activity of the world. There is no mercy for the half-hearted man; he is quickly jostled off the racecourse or crushed to pieces upon it. When a worker has become weary, and can no longer hurry forward or labour at his calling, the world perhaps pauses a moment to push him out of its way, chuckles at the vacant space or released capital, closes over the circle that formed for a moment around him, and hurries on its eager race. (2) If we turn from the unwearying work of the busy world to contemplate the great power of evil, if we try to realise its presence, to separate it in thought from the world which it defiles and seeks to ruin, we are appalled by its ceaseless efforts to accomplish its deadly purpose. Whatever power can afford to rest, the power of evil never grows weary. (3) The energies of goodness never rest nor take their ease. On all hands the numerous and combining ranks of the children of light are taking on them the whole armour of God and going forth to do battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil.
II. The mighty name of Christian combines many of the strongest arguments to unwearying service. (1) The Christian owes his own salvation to unwearied love and infinite sacrifice. (2) Christians are the pledged disciples of the great Worker in this field of holy exertion. (3) Christ Himself lives and works within the Christian by the power of His Spirit.
III. Further incentives to perseverance may be found in the peculiar and insidious character of the temptations to which welldoing is exposed. (1) The man who is resolved to ruin himself has the evil propensities of his fallen nature to help him. On the other hand, welldoing exacts a perpetual conflict with the evil tendencies of our nature. (2) Another of the hindrances to which welldoing of this kind is exposed is the tendency of our machinery to wear out and our own disposition not unfrequently to hurry it off the field. (3) There is weariness in welldoing from the very number of methods by which it may be pursued.
IV. Consider the reason which the Apostle urges for our observance of this injunction. It rests on the great law of God's dealings, the reward of patient labour: "Ye shall reap if ye faint not."
H. R. Reynolds, Notes on the Christian Life,p. 334.
The Weary Well-doers.
I. Well-doing is the broad evidence of the Christian calling. We are the Lord's free army to drive the devil's unholy legions from the earth and to destroy the fruits of his accursed reign. It is the great enterprise of Christ; He came for it, lived for it, died for it, and reigns for it on high. He holds the hope of it as the dearest jewel of His treasure, the warmest passion of His heart. That man can be none of His who, seeing the poor lying wounded in the world's highway, passes by on the other side. Those who can leave the world to struggle on as it may, while they care for their own salvation, utter the most awful blasphemy if they take the name of Christian on their lips. To share Christ's burden here is man's great education for the bliss and glory of eternity.
II. Be not weary in welldoing. Note (1) the causes of weariness: (a) The weight of the flesh. The great battle of life is with the heavy, weary, languid flesh, that ties us to the dust. Weariness in welldoing is part of the universal weariness: the slow movement of the flesh under high compulsions; the deadness of the soul itself to truth and Christ and the eternal world, (b) The largeness of the problem. (c) The immense difficulty and intricacy of the work and the evil it brings in its train. (d) The measure in which sorrow is mixed with sin. (e) It is thankless work. We might give up our ministry in despair but for the memory that nothing in the way of our carelessness and thanklessness has dulled the zeal of the ministry of the Lord. (2) The reasons which should move us to endure: (a) Because such words as these are written in the Bible (Matthew 18:21-35); (b) because these words are sustained and enforced by the infinite patience and mercy of God; (c) this endurance is life's grand lesson; (d) there is an end which will fulfil all our hope for humanity in sight.
J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon,p. 295.
Against Weariness in Well-doing.
I. One consequence of welldoing, as an argument against weariness, is the consciousness and the joy of pleasing God. This being vividly realised, what cause of weariness might it not be set against? Consider, our Master has other servants, and it should not be absolutely foreign to our consideration (as an argument not to be weary) that the noblest and best of all His creatures are never tired or even remiss. Imagine the stupendous activity, the bright multitudinous agency, every moment, in so many scenes and employments, and from before the beginning of time. And would we have the sovereign Master to look down through all this immensity and grandeur of action to see us throwing His business aside in disgust?
II. Against being weary, let it be considered what is the fittest introduction and discipline for the other world. On what terms would a thoughtful spirit desire to go into it? Surely so that there should be the greatest delight and fitness. Well, then, if it be considered as a rest,labour up to the time, or an activescene, bring highly exerted powers. Is it a scene for the triumph of victory? But then the good fight must be maintained up to the very gate. View it as an access to the noblest society, but then the new-comer must have belonged to the best society where he came from. In all reason, we must wish to bring as near as possible together, in likeness as well as time, the habits and spirit of the state we aspire to and those in the state we quit, that it may not be a vast and abrupt change.
III. We shall reap. The persevering faithful will reap the Divine approbation and acceptance, the great Master's final applause. The emphasis of the "Well done!" will not be proportioned to the measure of success, but to the devotedness, diligence, fidelity, perseverance.
J. Foster, Lectures,vol. ii., p. 386.
References: Galatians 6:9. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxiii., No. 1383; T. Arnold, Sermons,vol. iii., p. 234; C. C. Bartholomew, Sermons chiefly Practical,p. 207; D. Rhys Jenkins, The Eternal Life,p. 70; W. M. Punshon, Sermons,p. 33.Galatians 6:9; Galatians 6:10. H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 88. Galatians 6:10. A. Blomfield, Sermons in Town and Country,p. 205; R. H. Hadden, Church of England Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 4.Galatians 6:11. Preacher's Monthly,vol. ii., p. 108. Galatians 6:13. J. C. Gallaway, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiii., p. 228.