“But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.”
2 Corinthians 10:13-18 ESV

Paul knew he was a pioneer church planter. He was part of the team that was going where no one had gone before with the Gospel because that was the field he was given to work. And as Jesus said, he who has proven faithful with little will be given authority over more. Paul knew that he had to be responsible with what he had been given to do in Christ. Anything positive, any progress made is then attributed to The Lord, not selfishly and pridefully claimed for himself. He knew that his faithfulness would be acknowledged by God and that’s all that mattered.

If we ever wonder why it seems our influence for Christ seems small, maybe it is simply because we haven’t been working the little given to us. We push off having conversations that we know we need to have. We don’t speak up for our faith. We remain silent when we should be standing for truth. When we haven’t been faithful with a little, why would God entrust us with more?

If we want to have a life in Christ that is significant, that is measurable, then we need to trust in Him, do the work He has laid out for us, and let all our hope, strength and joy come from Him. If we want to, out of the love given to us, show that same love in return to Him and those He values, then we need to quit making excuses and do the work He has laid out for us to do.

Don’t trust in your own strength and abilities..you will always come up short. A life worth bragging about (doing all the bragging about God, of course) is a life that is lived out, not retreated from. Paul knew his field and he worked it. If we are going to follow our great commandment and commission to love and go, the we need to GoLove all day everyday and not just save it for special project weekends, or designated service times with out church family.

This is to be lived, and lived well for the sake of the Name. It’s not a requirement to fulfill to tick off boxes on our spiritual ‘to-do’ list, but a labor of love for the one who first loved us.