In Praise of Faithful Plodding

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John put the final touches on still another of his projects. He had been working as a church musician for many years, but no one took much notice of him. Still, he soldiered on, decade after decade, in obscurity. It was clear to him that he would never be, as the kids say, “an influencer.”

John had a firmly established reputation for mediocrity, but that didn’t faze him because he didn’t do his work for public acclaim. Everything he did was for the glory of God, so even if he didn’t have talent, he would do his work as well as he could as an offering to the Almighty.

Liz loved Jesus, and she did her duty.

Unlike most people, Liz didn’t get to choose her career. Her life’s work had been chosen for her, and her career path was narrow and demanding. Her work required her to be a public figure as the face of a traditional institution, so she was often the subject of intense scrutiny.

But that didn’t faze her. She loved Jesus, and she faithfully did her duty.

For more than seven decades she did what was required of her. When she died, the world honored her in a lavish display of pomp and glory. But the most remarkable things about her were the simplest: she loved Jesus, and she did her duty.

Sue was a stay-at-home mom with many children. She loved Jesus, but she had difficulty finding time to be alone with Him. Sometimes, to isolate herself from her clamoring brood, she would drape her apron over her head to create a little space to be alone with God.

John was German, remembered now as Johann, middle name Sebastian, last name Bach.
 
Even though he is now regarded as one of the masters of classical music, his talent as a composer was not recognized in his lifetime. He was known during his lifetime as a great organist but a mediocre composer. It was more than a hundred years after his death that his genius was finally recognized. By then many of his manuscripts had been lost, used the way we use old newspapers to wrap garbage or start fires.

Despite the lack of public acclaim, Bach composed prolifically. In his various posts in churches and in the royal court, he wrote so much music that it would be difficult even to copy all his works in a lifetime. What drove him to write so prodigiously? His large family might help explain (he had twenty children). But he himself gives us a clue as to his motives. He often wrote the words “soli Deo Gloria” at the end of his manuscripts – “for the glory of God alone.”

It didn’t matter to him whether the public appreciated his work. He wasn’t doing his work for them. Even though the public regarded his talent as meager, he offered his work as an act of worship to God.

Liz, you may have guessed, was the late Queen of England.

Her reign was remarkable not only for its duration but also for its steadiness and stability. She was a Christ-follower who did her duty well. She often spoke of her faith publicly, and her annual Christmas address – which she always wrote herself – spoke of her personal trust in Christ as Savior.

Sue was known as Susanna, last name Wesley.

You might not recognize that name, but two of her sons, John and Charles, are remembered as the founders of Methodism. One of her biographers described her impact this way:

Although she never preached a sermon or published a book or founded a church, (she) is known as the Mother of Methodism. Why? Because two of her sons, John and Charles, as children consciously or unconsciously will, applied the example and teachings and circumstances of their home life. (Susan Pellowe)

For John and Liz and Sue, as for any Christian who serves faithfully, the saying is true: “Nothing in this life matters nearly so much as two words in the next.”

Let’s be faithful plodders.

Let’s persevere in the work God has called us to do, no matter how ordinary it may seem, to the glory of God alone.

Persevere.