08/11/2026
Devotion: When Doing Good Gets Hard
It’s easy to say, “Don’t grow weary of doing good.” Have you ever had people make doing good harder than it needs to be? Listen to how The Message paraphrases Galatians 6:9 “So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.”
You know how this goes. You see a problem. Other people see it too. So you roll up your sleeves, gather some folks, make a plan, and start doing the good, hard work of trying to make something better. And then somebody starts poking holes in it. Not because they have a better idea. Not because they disagree that something needs to be done. Sometimes they don't even seem particularly interested in helping solve the problem. They criticize the plan, question the people doing the work, point out everything that might go wrong, and generally suck the wind right out of everybody's sails.
But here's something worth remembering before we become too frustrated with them: Not everybody has been taught how to be a difference maker. Some have only learned how to be a troublemaker. They've learned how to spot what's wrong, but not how to help make it right. They know how to criticize an idea, but not how to improve one. They know how to point out a problem, but nobody ever taught them to ask, “What can I do to help?” They may have spent years in environments where finding fault was rewarded, suspicion was considered wisdom, and tearing down somebody else's idea was easier and safer than risking one of their own.
That doesn't make the behavior helpful. But understanding it can keep their behavior from changing ours.
And maybe that's another place sanctifying grace has work to do.
Because God's grace isn't only at work in the person tending the fire. It can also be at work in the person kicking dirt at it.
Maybe part of doing good is occasionally handing that person a piece of wood and saying, “Here. Help me build this.” Some will. Some won't. Some may keep kicking dirt. But their response doesn't determine whether the fire is worth tending.
And if you've ever wondered whether all that resistance means God must not be behind the good thing you set out to do, remember something Paul knew very well:
Doing good can be exhausting. Difficulty isn't necessarily a sign that God isn't in it. Sometimes it's simply evidence that people are still learning how to build instead of tear down.
