In the book, The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis says it is not the good marriages that best show Christ’s love, but the bad ones.

A husband that has a quarrelsome wife, but bears with her, forgives her, and lays his life down for her is a better picture than a husband who has a wife who is easy to love.  A wife that respects a man who is irresponsible and ego-centric is a better picture of the love of Jesus than living with a man who has earned a good reputation.

He says this because that is exactly the kind of relationship that Jesus is in with us. We are constantly wandering, sinning, turning back to our will and ways.  But he lays his life down, bears with our sin, forgives us, and gently leads us his way.

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Does this also apply to areas outside of marriage?  Does this apply to our jobs that we don’t like?  To ministries that aren’t bearing alot of visible fruit?  To our relationship with our children that grow more distant by the day?

Certainly this is not an excuse for selfish behavior, lazy work, and bad parenting.  But what if the love of God is more fully realized in your tough work environment than your friend’s, who seems to have a Midas touch?

Paul writes that his ministry was a constant death (2 Corinthians 4).  He said that people looked at him and cringed (Romans 8:36).  Others gloated over him when he was in jail and called him unimpressive (Philippians 1).

Maybe the frustration you are experiencing is the frustration of a farmer that is breaking up hard soil so when the seed is planted later there will be an abundant harvest.  And maybe the work of Christ is fully realized in your daily dying, not your constant success.