But, Why?

W hy should I worry myself with doing what’s right when no one else wants to? Why should I come to worship when most everyone there is a hypocrite? Why try to go the extra mile when no one will appreciate me? Why try to evangelize when no one wants to listen to us? I’m sure there are a million and a half other questions that we may ask daily, wondering why we continue to do what we do when it seems pointless at times. It is hard not to be frustrated from time to time, but if we are asking “why?” with the intention of finding an excuse to quit please consider this attempt to answer your question?

“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10 KJV) Why should I remain faithful or do what is right even when it seems no one else wants to, because our Savior never ceased being faithful in the work He was sent to do for you! Jesus humbled Himself, taking on the role of a servant, and became obedient unto death for the forgiveness of your (and my) sins (Phil.

2:5; Heb. 12:2). There was never a point in the mission of Jesus that He ceased being the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Why should I go the extra mile when no one will appreciate me, because the things we do in the church, we are doing them on behalf of Jesus (Matt. 25:31-46). We are living our lives in service to Christ (Gal. 2:20) and the things that we do, we do them because Jesus would do them instead of doing them to get the praise of man. Remember the statement Jesus made about those that were doing things to have the praises of man (Matt. 6:5-16)? He stated, “they have their reward,” but those that are serving Christ, going the extra mile regardless of who’s watching, will have their reward as the Father sees what you are doing (Matt. 6:18).

Why should I assembly every time the doors are open although I do not want to be around anyone? Other than the fact that not forsaking the assembly is a command (Heb. 10:25), your presence to every assembly may be an encouragement to someone who is struggling. Often, we only think about ourselves and why things happen to us, and we fail to see that there are others that need us. We assemble to exhort each other and lift each other up, and if we were constantly wondering what good we could do, we might miss an opportunity to exhort and do as if we were doing it for Jesus (Matt.

25:31ff.) Simply stated, we do what we do because Jesus is who He is, and we serve Him!

Jeremy Thornton