Struggles and hardships - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 2:3

Struggles and hardships
It’s a hot summer day. The thermometer is already showing 30°C in the shade. An elderly woman is sitting on the train. She isn’t feeling very well. She’s suffering from the heat and is longing to reach her destination. Sometimes she thinks she shouldn’t have set out today. But then she remembers that she’s on the road for a good reason. Today is the anniversary of the day when the Lord Jesus took her sister’s husband home. That’s why she wants to visit her sister, so that she doesn’t have to spend this day alone. She does it out of love for the Lord Jesus and for her sister.

This little story shows us that in following our Lord we may sometimes face hardship – a discomfort or some kind of deprivation. This is not only the case with Christians who travel to Africa to serve the Lord there. We sometimes experience this in our own lands as well.

Back to today’s verse. Anyone who has ever done military service knows that there are many unpleasant things to endure. You have to spend the night outside in the cold and rain. Or you have to march in the heat. The Roman soldier of ancient times also had to go through a lot of hardship for his commander who had recruited him.

In the same way, the Lord Jesus has recruited us. We serve Him out of love. At the end, He will reward us for every hardship we have endured for Him in the service of others.

Today’s reading: Nehemiah 11:1-36 · Proverbs 16:1-11