“I don’t see any change taking place.”
“What’s the point of all this praying?”
“I don’t seem to be getting much out of my meditation on God’s Word.”
“These people at church don’t appreciate the way I’m serving, so I wonder if I should just hang it up and be done with this ministry.”
Walk long enough with believers who are seeking the Lord through prayer, Bible reading, and service in the church, and you’ll hear comments like this. Words of weariness. Fragments of discouragement. Maybe you’re there right now—demoralized by division in your church, disillusioned by unanswered prayers, disinclined to open God’s Word when carving out time already feels impossible.
What will keep you praying in circumstances like this? What will keep you going to God’s Word? What will keep you in the church?
Faith in the Future Reward
The common response is to focus on how these practices are good for us, or good for others, whether we recognize their goodness and effectiveness or not. But I believe there’s a missing element that can boost our motivation. It’s faith. More specifically, it’s faith in the reward that God promises on the other side of our enduring a personal cost.
It’s trusting God for the reward—believing that even when it’s delayed, even when its effects remain hidden, he is still at work. What will keep you dedicated to showing sacrificial love in a broken world, what will keep you in the game playing your heart out, doing the hard work of pursuing holiness, loving the unlovable, and serving when it doesn’t come easily is faith in God’s future promise.
Kyle Worley’s new book Formed for Fellowship offers a great example of how keeping the goal and reward of Christian formation at the forefront of your heart and mind is essential for motivating you in the work when it’s tough. He writes,
Let’s imagine your friend asks you to come over to their house to help them with a backyard project. When you arrive you discover shovels, wheelbarrows, and a giant pile of rocks in the corner of their yard. Don’t lie—you are immediately regretting your offer to help. You and your friend begin moving the rocks. It’s hard work. The summer sun is hot. Your friend tells you to move the rocks to the other side of the yard. It feels meaningless. You are literally just shoveling and moving rocks from one place to the next. You start to get frustrated: “Why are we doing this? What’s the point?”
You finish the project and clear that corner of the yard of all the rocks. Your friend looks at you and says, “We are almost done.”
You finally lose your cool: “Almost done! We’ve been working all day to clear the rocks. Moving them from one corner to the next. I am dead tired. Why are we doing all of this?”
Your friend picks up a shovel and says, “About two feet under our feet is a treasure chest full of gold and diamonds. I figured I’d split it with you.”
Two questions: Do you pick up the shovel and finish the job? Do you now look back on all that work you’ve done differently than you had a few moments before?
I love this illustration. Here’s why: The promised reward reshapes the work behind you and fuels the work still before you. As Kyle reminds us, no matter how hard Christian formation may seem, or ineffective, or discouraging, “there is a treasure chest just beneath our feet.” He continues, “We might not always see it in the present moment, but the goal of Christian formation is greater joy with God as we become more aligned with his character, his purposes, and his will.”
Formed by Faith
That’s why I say it’s faith that matters here. It’s believing in what you cannot see, clinging to what God has promised though it remains unseen. It’s trusting that the God who gave us these means of grace intends to lead us deeper into the joy of knowing him and following his will. In this sense, Christian formation is impossible apart from Christian faith. It’s faith that leads us toward formation to begin with, and it’s faith that keeps us on the path.
“Why embark on the journey of Christian formation?” Kyle asks. Why devote time to prayer? Why spend time reading and studying and meditating on Scripture? Why serve your local church in ways that go unnoticed or that require time and energy you don’t feel you have to give? “So that you might be formed into the kind of person who enjoys God here and now, reflects God in the life of the world, and is eager to experience the blessings of forever fellowship with God in the life to come.”
These practices are intended to form us in the Christian faith, and that’s why the only way they form us is by faith—heeding God’s Word, trusting his promise, anticipating his reward. Even when we can’t see. Even when it costs us. Even when everything in us wants to quit and settle for less. We press on, in faith, by faith, and for faith. There’s treasure beneath our feet.
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