Ever felt what you do is, unappreciated undervalued and unnoticed,?

 Of course, you have, we all have.

Those feelings are especially a fact of life when we are serving in the church. Much of what we do in serving God by serving others in the church is often done behind the scenes or can’t be talked about publicly and so it’s easy to feel all that work is unappreciated because its unnoticed by other people. No one thanks you for those long phone calls listening to people talking about heart-breaking situations. Other people don’t know about those inconvenient trips to help sometimes unappreciative people and so can’t thank you for what you did.

Sadly, it’s also all too often an experience of serving in church to have worked incredibly hard doing something only for your work to feel like its being discounted or disparaged by an unthinking comment from someone else.

And I own up, church leaders are sometimes forgetful and unthinking and take people’s hard work and commitment to what they do in serving in the church for granted. If you have ever felt that is what I have done to you, I am truly sorry for my lack of appreciation.

However, in contrast to unthinking leaders and unappreciative there is someone who has noticed everything you have done and values your service. That is the one whom ultimately you were actually doing it all for, the Lord himself.

We are told this in Hebrews 6.10

God is fair; he will not forget the work you did and the love you showed for him by helping his people. And he will remember that you are still helping them

Do you know what that verse tells me? It tells me …

All those times you felt what you did was unappreciated, it wasn’t.

All those times you felt your contribution was undervalued, it wasn’t

All those times you thought what you did had been unnoticed, it wasn’t,

Sometimes I have to just hold on to those words and remind myself that ultimately what I do is never unnoticed, unappreciated, or undervalued by the one who really matters.

Maybe you should too