1 Thessalonians 1:3
“Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;”
This is no conspiracy, you are being watched. There is someone watching everything you do. There is no technology you can purchase that will keep from being watched. There is no place you can go without being seen. Simply put, wherever you go, you are not safe from being watched. There are three things they see you do.
First, they see your work of faith. These who are watching you see you go soul winning week in and week out. They see you faithfully teach your Sunday school class. They see you go to the nursing home ministry or the jail ministry and never get one word of appreciation. You may feel like nobody sees what you are doing for the LORD, but the verse above teaches that your work of faith is being watched.
Second, they see your labour of love. These who are watching you see you help those who have nobody to help them. They see you put money into someone’s hand to help them in their time of need. They watch you wake up late at night to go visit them in the hospital. They see your love being given without one pat on the back. You may think that you are loving in vain, but your love is being watched.
Third, they see your patience of hope. They see you continually work with someone in hopes that they will turn out right. They see you continually help someone who has failed over and over again because you believe eventually they will turn their life around. They see you believe in those whom everyone else has given up on. Though you may at times feel that nobody really appreciates what you do, let me remind you that you are being watched.
Who is watching you? First, God is watching you. You have to believe that God sees everything you do. Though at times you may wonder if God really sees what you are doing to help others and to further His cause, you cannot lose the reality that He is watching.
Moreover, other Christians are watching. You will notice that Paul said that he was “remembering” these things. You may think you are doing these things in the background and nobody sees what you are doing, but there is someone who is always watching what you do. Someone sees what you do and they are encouraged by your work, labor and hope.
Friend, let me encourage you to never give up. I know that the ministry at times can seem to be thankless, but you will be rewarded if you will continue. God is not a debtor to man, and He will reward you for your continuance of these things in His timing. Your perseverance in these areas is encouraging someone else to continue on. Whenever the time comes when you feel what you are doing is unappreciated, simply turn to this verse and remember that someone is watching.