Answer the Call, it's Not a Waste of Time

1 Corinthians 15:58

In today’s edition of, let’s say, the highlighter chronicles, I bring you 1 Corinthians 15:58.

Similar to Matthew 6:22, I recently found this verse in 1 Corinthians with no memory of when or why I highlighted it.

The verse is as follows:

“With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.” (The Message)

Upon reading this verse, I laughed out loud.

God really said, this one’s for you!!

I had been in a funk for most of the day. I was feeling overly emotional and heavy. I just felt down. And when I get down, one of the first things my brain likes to harp on is my writing, and all the reasons why I should stop writing: because I’m not successful, or on a visible track to become successful, because I haven’t made substantial money, because I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere.

It is difficult to describe this kind of feeling to other people, because it is difficult to describe how often I think about writing, how often I get excited about particular ideas; how long I spend trying to make essays and blogs absolutely perfect, and how convinced I can get that this will be the idea that finally makes me successful, or worthy of the title “writer”, or puts me on the path to do this for a living.

It is an exhausting spiral to go through, to constantly doubt my work and my place as a writer, and then gain momentum and feel like I can change the world, only to land back in the grips of doubt again and again and again.

This has been a particularly doubtful season for me, and I’ve struggled constantly with this seeming lack of results—this feeling that I will always be in the exact same place, never able to grow.

My continued conviction is that there must be someone somewhere that might someday see something I write and carry on God’s call. I have to believe that I am a brick in an ever growing building, a shingle in a roof, a cobblestone paving a street.

I am a piece of God’s plan, and even if I don’t find the vast success, recognition, or numbers that might mark me as monetarily “successful”, my writing will still be important. It will never be a waste of time. The work I am doing for God and in God’s name will never be pointless, but instead always have purpose.

I know God doesn’t like to see me doubt, he doesn’t enjoy watching me struggle or cry or compare myself to other writers. But He knows why he’s called me to write, why he always puts someone in my path to encourage me to keep writing, and why, even on my most doubtful days, I am jotting things down in my notebook or on random grocery store receipts or asking Siri to make a new note with keywords to help me remember an idea.

I know that, in many ways, my writing is not about me, it’s not about bringing glory and popularity to me, it’s about creating something that sets off a chain reaction, or reaches someone in exactly the right way, or answers a prayer I didn’t know was prayed by someone I’ll never meet.

It is hard to take myself out of the equation, but it is also encouraging to know that it is not all on ME. There is someone at work in my heart and the world around me, someone that knows better than me, someone that is using me for a bigger purpose than I could ever imagine.

So I want to encourage you today to answer the call. To do the work you feel drawn to, that you feel God in, even if it doesn’t make sense, even if it doesn’t go viral or immediately make you a millionaire. If God is in it, it will never be a waste of time, and you can take heart in knowing that your work matters—perhaps in ways we’ll never fully understand. Take those trusting steps forward to answer God’s call, and find assurance that he’s calling you to it with purpose.