Word for the Week

Why our service is never futile

Week beginning: 5th February, 2017 | By Jeremy Cooke | London

"You have said harsh things against me," says the LORD. "You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out His requirements… now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.'"

Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honoured His Name.

"They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession… you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

Malachi 3 v 13-18 (NIV, 1984)

Why might it seem futile to serve God? Because we appear to get nothing out of it? Is that a good reason or merely evidence of our self-centred nature - our old self - looking for what God will do for us?

It is easy to be discouraged as we see the ar