Unseen Growth (Friday Devotional)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

- Hebrews 11:1

On our front porch sit three potted plants which I have been tasked with keeping alive. Every morning I spend about 10 minutes walking back and forth from the side porch’s water spigot to the pots, dutifully pouring 2 pitchers of water over each plant. By the time I’m finished, the water has seeped deep into the soil and begun to trickle out of the bottom of the pots, leaving three decent-sized puddles. Those three wet spots offer daily proof that I’ve done my job.

Except, especially in these days of triple-digit heat, that proof doesn’t last long. Sometimes within an hour, all that water has already evaporated, leaving a bone-dry porch and no evidence I’ve done a thing. The only confirmation are the plants themselves—alive, flowering, flourishing.

Sharing the gospel can be a lot like that—you do the work, but you don’t see much in the way of immediate results. You tell somebody about Jesus, but they don’t make a decision for Christ and get baptized. You serve faithfully out of a sincere heart, but nobody appears to notice. You’re the best witness you can be to the grace and truth of Jesus, but it all seems to fall on deaf ears.

Yet even when you can’t see the progress, the Bible promises that faithfulness is never in vain. Sometimes God works in the dark, using your supposedly meaningless ministry to accomplish something great. It may take time—and you may never see the fruit of your labor—but the Lord can take the seed you planted long ago and bring about something beautiful.

It’s frustrating to toil away and never see the results. But that’s the essence of faith—it’s the conviction of things not seen; it doesn’t depend on visible evidence. Keep up the good work—and where you provide the water, God will provide the growth.