Faithfulness

By My Anonymous Friend

This past week some friends of ours celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. It was a delight to join with family and friends to help celebrate this significant milestone in their lives.

Our friends served for some years as missionaries in Vietnam before being forced to leave in 1975. They shared many stories of their work there and how they survived the Tet offensive in 1968 and the final weeks before the war ended in 1975. Some readers may recall that several missionaries were killed during the war and our friends were involved in recovering the bodies and seeking to honor their lives with a dignified burial.

Such stories provide intrigue and fascinate a listener but in my view there is something infinitely more significant about the life and ministry of our friends. Their work did not end in 1975. For years and continuing into the present, they have continued to work in various ways in this SE Asian country. They have provided a voice for the persecuted church there. They continue to advocate for those who have no platform from which to speak. God continues to provide amazing opportunities to serve. In recent months positive contacts have been established with individuals in government service. Recently a television station there featured an interview with our friend. I could continue.

All this spells one thing!  F-A-I-T-H-F-U-L-N-E-S-S. What a tribute to be able to say about a person that after 50 years of marriage he or she has been faithful in their service to their Lord!  I have a conviction that their work is not yet complete and that perhaps even greater ministry opportunities await them. This we simply entrust to the sovereign will and plan of God.

Scripture says that of a steward it is required that he be faithful. Our friends have been faithful for sure. They have several children who currently live abroad who are continuing in the pattern created by their parents. Thus their work will continue through their children even after their time on this earth is completed. I celebrate and rejoice.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ whom you are serving”  (Colossians 3:23-24).

I share this with you today to encourage you to be faithful and to serve day by day in the spirit of Paul's admonition to the Colossian church. Perhaps like our friends, you are serving in a way or in a place where you receive little recognition from others. Do not let this discourage you.