Verse of the Day for October 27

Lifted out on its own, this line looks like a gentle encouragement. Read where it sits, it becomes more honest. Some in the church at Thessalonica had stopped working altogether, and Paul tells them plainly to work, and eat their own bread.

Then he turns to everyone else. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. These are the people who had been carrying the idle ones, sharing food, covering gaps. They were tired in the particular way that comes from doing good for people who take advantage of it.

Paul does not treat that tiredness as sin. He names it, which is itself a kind of mercy. Doing good for people who do not change is wearying. The honest answer to how you are is sometimes, I am tired of helping.

Verse fourteen is firm. Some people need to feel the weight of their choices. Love is not the same as endlessly funding someone's refusal to change. But for those still doing good, the instruction is not to quit. Keep doing what is right, even while drawing wiser lines.

Maybe there is a cousin who keeps borrowing and never repays, or a colleague who always leaves you the extra work. Tell God honestly how tired you are. Then ask him what well doing looks like here. It may include a firmer no.

You are allowed to be honest with God about how tired you are of helping.

Doing good and drawing boundaries are not enemies.