Sometimes, the little “Gee whiz!” moments I encounter in my daily Bible reading are quite inspiring.
Today’s reading that included Romans 16 offers an example.
Here’s the subject text that prompted this Morning Devotion:
“Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.” (v. 12).
I’ve read these words from the Apostle Paul on countless occasions but a novel, inspirational insight didn’t surface for me until this morning.
Romans 16 contains a number of encouraging affirmations about certain believers among the Christians at Rome. It’s clear that the many people listed in vv. 10-27 were leaders and motivated servants of God, including a number of women.
What intrigued me about the above verse, however, was not just that women were so publicly praised for their volunteer ministry, but also the irony of these three names.
The names of the first two women who worked hard for the Lord began with the letters “Try.” And the name of the third woman who “worked very hard” for the Lord was Persis, the same letters found at the beginning of “persistent.”
Wow.
Yes, it’s a bit of a stretch in pulling a deep, philosophical lesson from the verse. But in a roundabout way, I’m still inspired by these women who served the Lord in such a way that the Apostle Paul was impressed and inspired by them.
When we try our best in working hard for the Lord, we share the passion and purposes of Tryphena and Tryphosa.
When we enduringly serve, no matter what form of fatigue we face, we share the persis-tence of Persis.
And just as their efforts were not missed by Paul, so will our efforts not be missed by the Lord.
Keep trying.
Keep persisting.
Then you can savor the moment in eternity when you hear the Lord say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
As always, I love you
Martin
