12 A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well. 13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 3:12-13

Again, Paul made it clear that deacons were to have identical moral underpinnings in marital fidelity and with his children. Throughout these verses regarding the deacon and his family, Paul admonished them for being faithful in their duties and morality. Today, normally pastors are paid for their service, but in most cases deacons and other leaders in the church due it out of love for their families, the church and Jesus Christ. Verse 13 alludes to their reward for work well done. We don’t know what it is, but in the blessed afterlife, it will have been worth it all.

Of course we can easily extrapolate it to the work that many in the church do. The long hours scrubbing floors that no one sees. The years spent teaching Sunday School with little outward fruit. The sleepless nights praying over a church congregation.

It is never in vain. That’s hard for us to understand, isn’t it? In fact, we will probably never remember all that we’ve done for the Kingdom that will be rewarded. Those rewards are adding up day by day as we are faithful to doing what we know to be right.

It bears repeating: what we do for Christ in this life is never in vain.