Unappreciated

I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance…(Revelation 2:2a).

 

UNAPPRECIATED

 

TEN YEARS AGO, I graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree and college loans up to my ears. This was a day of celebration, not because of the debt, but because I had completed four years of college. Friends and family cheered as I ceremonially received my degree. It was wonderful!

 

I have literally been paying for that moment ever since. Recently, however, I made my final college loan payment. Inside, I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. However, there was no ceremony to mark the accomplishment. Nobody, except my spouse, cheered as I received that “Paid-In-Full” statement. To the world, it was just another day. To me, it was much more.

 

Most people have experienced some financial debt at some point. Often, we ask God to send a large sum of money to make it all go away, but it usually isn’t that easy. Instead, it takes hard work and perseverance to overcome debt. Perhaps nobody else appreciates your accomplishment of becoming debt free, but you do because you know what it took to get there.

 

In the same way, God knows what it takes to live holy lives in today’s society. He promises “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne…” (Revelation 3:21). God will richly bless you tomorrow for your perseverance today.

—Mike McClung