08/19/2026
Don't Grow Weary!
I hopped on the Bible app this morning to do my study and wanted to share the Verse of the Day they had chosen for today. It was Galatians 6:9, which made me smile because it’s a verse I feel like I’ve come back to over and over (and highlighted and underlined) lately.
“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” — Galatians 6:9 NLT
Years ago, I was on staff at a church where the back of our serve shirts said, “We get to do this.” I’ve always loved that, and it’s a mindset I’ve always lived by.
We GET to serve people. We GET to be part of what God is doing. We GET to raise our families, love our people, serve our churches, and use what God has given us to make a difference in the lives of others. There is so much in our everyday lives that really is a privilege, even when it doesn’t always feel like one.
But here’s what I’ve learned: believing “we get to do this” doesn’t mean we never get tired of doing it.
I think that’s one of the reasons I keep coming back to Galatians 6:9. There are things in my life right now that I know are good. I know they matter. I know God has called me to them. I wouldn’t necessarily choose to give them up, either. But that doesn’t mean I don’t get a little tired sometimes. Or a little tired of doing them.
Maybe you’ve felt that too. You love your family, but some seasons of raising a family are exhausting. You love serving, but sometimes you wonder how much more you have to give. You’ve been praying for someone for a long time and haven’t seen anything change. You keep pouring into a relationship without knowing if what you’re saying is getting through. You keep showing up and doing what you know is right, but you’d really love just a little bit of evidence that it’s making a difference. Please God, just a small little hint.
I think we can sometimes make ourselves feel guilty for that kind of weariness. We assume that because something is good, or because God has called us to it, we should always be excited to do it. But Paul doesn’t seem surprised that people doing good eventually get tired. He actually tells us not to grow weary because he knows that we will.
What he tells us to do is not give up.
I love that he uses the picture of a harvest here because there is so much that happens between planting something and finally seeing what it produces. There’s a lot of work in the middle, and for quite a while, there isn’t much to show for it.
I’m not much of a farmer, okay, I'm not at all a farmer, but I know enough to know that you don’t plant something and then dig it back up a few days later to see if it’s working. You keep taking care of it and trust that something is happening even when you can’t see it yet.
I wonder how many times I’ve wanted to dig up something God was still growing.
How many times have I decided a prayer wasn’t being answered because I couldn’t see an answer yet? How many times have I wondered if something I was doing mattered because no one noticed? How many conversations with my kids have I assumed went in one ear and out the other? How many times have I been ready to move on because I couldn’t see any fruit from what I had been faithfully doing?
Galatians 6:9 reminds me that I don’t have to see the harvest to know that the planting matters.
“At just the right time” is God’s part. “If we don’t give up” is ours.
That doesn’t mean we never rest. It doesn’t mean we say yes to everything, run ourselves into the ground, or assume that being exhausted somehow makes us more faithful (Dear Self, I'm talking to you right now). Sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is rest, ask for help, or let someone else carry something for a while.
But there’s a difference between resting and quitting something simply because we haven’t seen the results yet.
Maybe there’s something you’ve been faithfully doing for a long time and you’re wondering if it matters. Maybe it’s a person you’ve been praying for, a child you’ve been pouring into, a place you’ve been serving, or something God asked you to do that hasn’t turned out the way you pictured.
I don’t know what the harvest will look like for you, and I don’t know when you’ll see it. I’m learning that I don’t get to know those things in my own life either.
But I do know what Galatians 6:9 tells us.
Don’t give up on doing good just because you’re tired or because you can’t see what it’s producing yet. Keep being faithful with what God has put in front of you, and trust Him with the part you can’t see.
I still believe we get to do this. I still believe it’s a privilege to spend our lives loving people, serving Jesus, and being part of what He is doing.
And on the days when I’m tired of doing good, I think I’ll probably keep coming back to Galatians 6:9 until I believe it all over again. And telling myself not to go rip up the plant and see why it hasn't produced fruit yet.
Kellie Owens
