The work was HARD
Uncle Kermit knew the work demanded utter com-
mitment, and that is what he gave. The work was
difficult in many ways. It took energy, time, and
perseverance. When my grandfather worked to put
up silage for the winter at his farm, the equipment
would sometimes break down. This was a
source of great frustration as my dad
and his other brothers were taking
time away from their own work to
help him, but Uncle Kermit could fix
just about anything because he had
done it countless times on his own
farm. He had learned to overcome
frustration not by walking away from
the difficulty but by the hard work of
fixing the problem. My cousin told me about
a typical effort by his dad. When all the daily work
of milking had been done, he might go and dig by
hand the holes for fence posts to enclose the large
pastures for the cows. If he wasn’t eating or sleeping,
Kermit was probably working.
The work was WORK
It was physically difficult, but it was also work in
every sense of the word. There was no way to coast.
Getting up at 4:00 a.m. every day is work in itself, but
making sure the cows are milked and also provided
with the water, hay, and silage they need is a relent-
less pressure. The dairy farmer works literally night
(when he begins) and throughout the day. His work
includes milking the cows twice a day (the morning
milking is only the start), making sure the milk is not
contaminated with bacteria (the inspectors do check
regularly), and then taking care of the more typical
farm activities of growing crops (plowing, fertilizing,
harvesting, storing), maintaining machinery, and
mending those fences. Sound like work?
The work was LOVED
Despite being hard and constant work, the life was
enjoyable. My uncle could have hired a neighbor
to look after milking his cows for a few days so he
could have time away for a vacation. But he rarely
if ever did. Why? Part of the answer is his work
ethic and the fact that cows can be skittish
with change, but a bigger part of the
answer is that he truly enjoyed his
work. Silage has an invigorating smell,
but the other smells around the barn
are not so endearing. Nevertheless,
Uncle Kermit loved the work and
was willing to be in the thick of it, so
to speak.
No doubt Paul had all these factors (hard-
ness/difficulty, work, love for the work) in mind
as he charged his protégé Timothy to remember
the farmer. The man of God must be “prepared”
(2 Timothy 2:21) and “equipped” (3:17) “for every
good work.” Even evangelism is work, and it is
required for the fulfillment of the ministry: “But you,
be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work
of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (4:5).
Above all, the Lord would have the missionary emu-
late the good farmer and Paul, who both exemplify a
love for the work. No one will continue to be faithful
until the end who does not love the ministry of the
Gospel. Love is the ultimate issue. In the concluding
chapter of 2 Timothy, Paul refers to Demas, who
spent time with Paul and undoubtedly endured
some hardness. That he was Paul’s coworker virtually
guarantees that Demas showed a capacity to work
hard. But he failed the most important test of love.
He forsook the hardness and the work for lack of the
third element, love for the work. His motivation was
love, but it was a love for “this present world” (4:10).
Surely, we all want to be faithful until the end. How does that happen?
It happens when we are willing to endure hardness, when we are willing to do the
work required, and when we love the work because we love the Lord of the work.