In Praise of Faithful Plodding

John put the final touches on still another of his projects. He had been working in the field 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 although she lived in abundance, even luxury, her career path was narrow and demanding. Her work required her to be a public figure. She was the face of a traditional institution and was therefore often the subject of intense controversy.

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.

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 died thinking his work was mediocre. 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.

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.

If he wasn’t getting public acclaim, 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. He presented his talents, meager though they were, 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 length but also for its steadiness and stability. She was a Christ-follower who did her duty well.

Both John and Liz were faithful plodders. What is praiseworthy about the way they did their work was not the acclaim that has come their way; it was their steadfastness, their perseverance in doing the work God called them to do.

Let’s be faithful plodders like John, like Liz. Let’s persevere in the ordinary, in the work God has called us to do, to the glory of God alone.

Persevere,
Paul Pyle
Pastor of Discipleship