Fruitful Labor

As I continue on along in my journey through the book of Philippians, many old verses are brought to me new. Words that I have read hundreds of times suddenly appear fresh and vibrant, and new meaning rings to them.

Philippians 1:22 "...this will mean fruitful labor for me..."

Hmm...fruitful labor. Not just labor; fruitful labor. I never saw the word fruitful before. I've always focused my attention on laboring for the kingdom but have never stopped to evaluate if what I am doing for the kingdom is fruitful.

Over the last decade, I've been able to build quite a nice resume of labor that I have done for the kingdom. Let's see...we've got the hospitality team at Cafe in Boston, Membership Committee at Park Street...oh and there is also leading small groups and helping out once a month at the breakfast. And how could I forget about the Greeting Team at Soma? Or about my missions work with SBC? I am sure I am not alone in being able to list all sorts of work that I have done for the kingdom. But my question is this: how much of this labor was fruitful? What activities did I do that really sowed into the harvest for the Kingdom? Interestingly, my resume becomes quite condensed. It's reduced to a handful of dedicated activities where my soul was invested in individuals and the deposits were made into Heaven.

So, I come to this point. What am I doing now for God that will yield not just a harvest, but a fruitful, abundant crop that will bring forth seed for the next harvest and the harvest after that?