Not in Vain!

I first arrived in Japan 35 years ago, on September 1, 1974. There are various people and things that could be counted to "prove" that being a missionary here all these years has not been in vain, and I praise the Lord for each and every one. But instead of doing that, today, I did a little word study on "vain" and "vanity" in the Bible. Here is what I found.

First, there are far more vain things in this world than there are things which are not vain. The ratio shown in the concordance usage is far more than ten to one in favor of vanity. The help of man is vain (Psa. 60:11). Beauty is vain (Pro. 31:30). False teaching is vain (1 Ti. 6:20). And many more verses could also be sited. Likewise, the visible results of sowing the seed of God's word has often not been as I had hoped, such that the work has often seemed to be in vain. So being negative is easy, thinking about unfruitful, "vain" efforts and forgetting the parable of the sower. That's why I believe far more missionaries have quit because they thought their efforts were in vain than for any other reason.

But second, on the positive side, there are several wonderful texts that clearly say that serving the Lord is NOT in vain. These include: Deut. 32:47, Isa. 55:11, Mat. 10:41, 1 Cor. 15:10, 58, and 1 Thess. 2:4. Time and agin over the years the Lord has used these and other similar verses to encourage and keep us faithful. I'm sure it is the same with all His servants. "Therefore . . . abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor. 15:58)