useless

This is one of the verses I feel God has given me for 2016.

It's very short, but packs quite a punch.

“Nothing we ever do for the Lord is useless.” 1 Corinthians 15:58b (NLT)

Here it is in different translations, to give us a feel of it's scope...

1 Corinthians 15:58b

...your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose]. (Amplified)

You know that your work in the Lord is never wasted. (ERV)

...in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (ESV)

Be sure that nothing you do for him is ever lost or ever wasted. (J B Phillips)

...your labour is not in vain in the Lord. (KJV)

...nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort. (The Message)

...your toil is not in vain in the Lord. (NASB)

...your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (NIV)

...all your labor is not for nothing when it is for God. (The Voice)

(All these translations can be found at www.BibleGateway.com)

It's just 8 words in the New Living Translation, but it has a gajillion megaton affirming impact on our lives & our outlook, if we simply choose to believe it.

And much of the interpretation comes from the emphasis we put on one of the 9 words.

Play with that concept as we look at those 9 words with the emphasis shifted.

NOTHING we ever do for the Lord is useless.

Nothing we ever do for the Lord is USELESS.

Nothing WE ever do for the Lord is useless.

Nothing we ever do for the LORD is useless.

Nothing we EVER do for the Lord is useless.

Nothing we ever do FOR the Lord is useless.

Nothing we ever DO for the Lord is useless.

Such affirming words, whether what we do is in the glamorous spotlight, or in obscurity.

There is always ripple effects from what we do for the Lord.

Think about that today...