8. Not Unlike Ghostwriting

John 4: 38  I sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labor: other men labored and ye are entered into their labors.  

Not unlike ghostwriting, is what Jesus demonstrated with the Sychar woman and what he expects of us as we relate to people in our daily living. The ghostwriter writes a speech, an essay, a story for another person with the expectation of giving all the credit to that person, often in return for payment. Church circles often reflect a similar experience, in which persons may labor diligently for weeks, months, or even years only to find that somebody else gets the credit. It is especially painful if that person is new, and the laborer worked for gratis. 

      Occasionally, the benefactor of such service may express gratitude to the one who labored without getting the glory. There are even people who would say that they paid for the product, hence, like buying and wearing a wig, it became their personal property. It seems as if Jesus had a different view about ghosting. He separated the sower from the reaper, acknowledging that both are essential to God's kingdom. To him, the person who lays the foundation is just as valuable as the person who builds upon it. Someone sowed into the Sychar woman's life in order that the witness Jesus did of himself could have the positive effect it had.

     If you are a sower, keep on sowing. You may or may not live long enough to reap your harvest on earth. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that the prophets of old did not live to see what they prophesied about Jesus. That did not discourage them. They prophesied anyway. If you are a reaper, keep on reaping. Don't get carried away with the credit because you may later discover that the kudos have to be shared with others. Stay humble, because the Emmy's are on the way, and will be a time of rejoicing that no one has yet witnessed. Your current anonymity will one day break forth into a well deserved "Well Done, thou good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your Lord."

Father, keep my eyes focused on You. Let my undergirding  goal be to please just You. Let me not become weary in well doing, because I will reap in due season, if I do not faint. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.