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Let us not be weary in well-doing in consequence of —

I. The rivalry of other workers.

II. The mighty name by which we are called.

III. The insidious character of our temptations to weariness.

IV. The reward promised to patient labour. First, the rivalry of other workers forbids weariness.

1. The undying activity of the world. In this busy working world, the inactive, the disappointed, the weary, are soon trodden down and destroyed.

2. If we turn from the unwearying work of the busy world to contemplate the great power of evil, if we try to realize its presence, to separate it in thought from the world which it defiles and seeks to ruin, we are appalled by its ceaseless efforts to accomplish its deadly purpose. Whatever power can afford to rest, the power of evil never grows weary.

3. The energies of goodness never rest nor take their ease.

II. The mighty name of "Christian" combines many of the strongest arguments to unwearying service.

1. The Christian owes his own salvation to unwearied love and infinite sacrifice.

2. Christians are the pledged disciples of the Great Worker in this field of holy exertion. "I must work, said Jesus, the works of Him that sent Me while it is day. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."

3. Christ Himself lives and works within the Christian by the power of His Spirit.

III. Further incentives to perseverance may be found in the peculiar and insidious character of the temptations to which well-doing is exposed.

1. The man who is resolved to ruin himself has the evil propensities of his fallen nature to help him. On the other hand, "well-doing" exacts a perpetual conflict with the evil tendencies of our nature. The Christian has a persevering enemy to slay.

2. Another of the hindrances to which "well-doing" of this kind is exposed, is the tendency of our machinery to wear out, and our own disposition not unfrequently to hurry it off the field. Our ways of doing good may often be antiquated and cumbrous. A mass of useless lumber, in the shape of old instruments, may infest the Church of God, and we perhaps often feel that nothing can be done without removing such incumbrances.

3. There is temptation to weariness in "well-doing" from the very number of methods by which it may be persued.

IV. Let us, in conclusion, consider the reason which the apostle urges for our observance of this injunction. In all the well-doing of the Christian, in all the toil of the earnest worker for God, there is alliance with the power of the Holy Spirit, and with the purposes of God; and it would seem that the sovereignty of God has included the labours of man in its own far-reaching penetration. The months before the ingathering may often seem long and wearisome, and verily be heart-breaking things, but God's "seasons" are not always measurable by our forecastings, even though the harvest is pledged by His oath and His promise. We shall reap the growth effectuated by His Holy Spirit, though we may not always understand the nature of the gracious sheaves that we are bringing in our bosom. We cannot calculate the hour nor the nature of our triumph, but we know that the Word of God standeth sure, and that the due season draweth nigh.

(H. R. Reynolds, B. A.)

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KJV: And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

WEB: Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don't give up.