What’s the Point?
By Summer Martin
Has the phrase in the title ever crossed your mind after frustration has been building for a while? Maybe I’ve said it. Maybe you’ve said it. Maybe you’ve thought it but knew better than to say it out loud, because it doesn’t sound very Christian of us. We are supposed to persevere. Serve faithfully, keep showing up, keep loving people, keep doing good even when it’s difficult. All of this is true. But sometimes the "what's the point” isn’t coming from someone who doesn’t want to serve, it’s coming from those who have been trying.
Those who made the plans, bought the supplies, volunteered, prepared, and showed up. Someone who keeps adjusting when plans change, communication fails, expectations are not met, or decisions you weren’t part of were made in regards to something you set up. Eventually even faithful people get frustrated, and that frustration can lead to asking “Why am I putting this much effort into something when it feels like we keep doing this over and over again?”.
Faithfulness Is Repetitive
My pastor used this definition in a sermon not long ago, the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. He went on to say he used to believe that, but over the years of his Christian walk he didn’t necessarily believe it any more. Christianity makes this idea a little more complicated, because God does call us to do the same thing over and over again. Share the gospel again, invite them again, pray again, forgive again, serve again, love again, teach the truth again, show up….guess what….again. We don’t stop proclaiming Christ because someone rejected the gospel the first five times we shared it, we don’t stop praying because the answer hasn’t come, and we don’t stop serving because the last event didn’t go as planned.
Biblical faithfulness is repetitive. Galatians 6:9 tells us: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”. There will always be some sort of repetition in obedience, but something we cannot forget to distinguish is this: Doing the same faithful thing repeatedly is not the same as repeating preventable dysfunction and expecting people not to become discouraged by it.
Sometimes People Aren’t Tired of Serving
What they are really tired of is the confusion, the preparing for things that change at the last minute, finding our information after decisions have already been made, unclear expectations, and tired of being told something matters and then watching it repeatedly become an afterthought.
Sometimes we look at people reaching this point and tell them to just be faithful, it is all going to work out. Yes. God’s plan will work out, He is sovereign. But our faithfulness in that isn’t an excuse for human carelessness.
1 Corinthians 14:40, tells us that things should be done “decently and in order”. Philippians 2 tells believers to look not only to their own interests, but also to the interests of others. When you read through the New Testament, especially in a lot of the epistles, the church is repeatedly instructed to consider one another. That our decisions should consider how they affect other people.
Our communication, follow-through, planning all matter, and so does our word. Not everything has to be perfect. Life happens, plans change, emergencies happen, people are forgetful, schedules can fall into chaos, we get it. We are humans, not robots. Grace absolutely is something that belongs in those moments. But when that same frustration happens repeatedly, wisdom doesn’t simply say “Well everyone needs to give more grace”, wisdom asks “Is there something we need to change?”.
Grace & Accountability Can Hold the Same Room
Have you ever thought that we as Christians can be really good at extending grace, all the while exhausting those people who are inside the moment. Don’t get me wrong, if someone is frustrated, give them grace. If they dropped the ball, give them grace. Communication failed, give them grace. Plans changed yet again, yes…..give them grace. Always give grace, because we have received far more grace than we deserve from Christ.
But grace does not mean pretending patterns don’t exist. Grace doesn’t eliminate responsibility. Even with Christ giving us grace, we are still responsible for being obedient. Just because someone receives grace from us, doesn’t mean that someone doesn’t need to say “Hey, this keeps happening and it’s affecting people”. In fact, loving one another means being willing to have that conversation. Not complain, not gossip, not hold a frustration meeting with all those who feel the same, but for us to pursue something better.
Because sometimes the answer to “what’s the point” isn’t to just try harder. Sometimes it's specific: communicate better, plan better, listen better, consider how our decisions affect the people carrying them out, stop assuming everyone has the same information, ask questions before making decisions, and we need to be willing to hear “This isn’t working”.
Discouraged People Don’t Always Leave
This may not be something that leaders or members of the church notice at first, but sometimes discouraged people dont’ just quit. They just stop. Stop volunteering, stop offering ideas, stop initiating, stop planning, stop getting excited, they stop saying “I’ll do it” and start saying “Whatever you decide”.
And it’s not because they don’t care, it’s sometimes because at one point they care a lot, for a long time. And then after enough discouragement, pulling back felt safer than getting invested again. So when those faithful people start asking “What’s even the point?” it may not be evidence of a bad attitude. It might be the tell of something deeper.
It may tell us they are exhausted. Expectations aren’t clear. Communication is broken down. Too much responsibility resting on too few people. Decisions being made without considering everyone they affect. Or maybe that person has been quietly carrying more than anyone realized and instead of correcting the discouraged person, we should be willing to sit with them and just listen.
We Don’t Get To Just Throw In The Towel
None of this gives us permission to just become bitter, and frustration can turn to resentment really quickly if you let it. And resentment loves company, and that is when the frustration becomes gossip, division, factions, and an “us vs them” mentality. That’s not the answer.
Just because we may feel frustration, that doesn’t mean we get to respond with poor communication either, or with sinful communication. We don’t get to stop honoring Christ because someone else frustrates us. Our ultimate reason for serving was never supposed to be that everything around us would run smoothly, it’s that we serve Christ.
Colossians 3:23 says “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men”. And that changes the answer to the title question.
What’s the Point?
CHRIST!
This truth should never be used to silence legitimate frustration, but it should point us to the foundation for dealing with it correctly. We can speak honestly without tearing people down, address patterns without attacking character, receive correction without becoming defensive, extend grace while making changes. And we can apologize when our decisions affect others.
By doing these things and more we can keep being the servants to Christ that we should be. Stewarding what He has given us.
Maybe We Need to Ask the Question
Maybe “What’s the point” isn’t the question we should be asking, because we know Christ is the reason behind what we do. Maybe the question looks more like: why are people discouraged? Why does this keep happening? Is there a pattern? Is something preventable repeatedly creating frustration? Are we asking people to continually adjust to problems we could actually fix?
These aren’t faithless questions. They can be very wise, because perseverance doesn’t mean refusing to learn. Faithfulness doesn’t mean refusing to change. And grace doesn’t mean pretending everything is fine.
Take the question to the Lord, examine your own heart first, make sure the frustration isn’t becoming resentment, and then be willing to examine the situation too. Because sometimes the answer is perseverance, and sometimes it’s wisdom.
Knowing the difference matters.
