People often ask how the scripture for each devotional gets picked. Honestly, it's different every day — sometimes it comes the night before, sometimes first thing in the morning, and sometimes it's ten or fifteen minutes before it's time to go live. Today was one of those mornings. Pulling into the office, a notification came up on a Bible app with Galatians 6:9. That was it — that was today's word.
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." — Galatians 6:9-10
This is Paul, writing to the church at Galatia. These verses land near the end of a section where he's instructing believers on how to support and treat one another — carrying each other's burdens, gently correcting a brother caught in sin. Then he lands here: don't grow weary in doing good.
A Noble Good
The Greek word Paul uses for "good" here isn't the same word you'd use for a good banana. It's a noble good — something deeper and more deliberate. And the warning isn't against being good; it's against growing tired while doing it.
We Don't Give Up at the Start — We Give Up in the Middle
Nobody gives up at the beginning. Beginnings are exciting. Who doesn't love starting something new? The struggle comes in the middle — we plant a seed, water it once, and a week later when nothing's visible yet, we walk away. Sometimes a seed takes a long time to produce a crop. Sometimes we never even see it ourselves. That's the part Paul is really addressing here — not whether we start being good, but whether we stay in it.
And more specifically, what wears us down usually isn't the work itself — it's people. It's the seventh conversation you've had about the same thing with your daughter. It's running out of words to say to your staff after you've already shown them the same example three times. Paul isn't telling us to stop being good to people who wear us out. He's telling us we can't control what they do with it, and it's not on us to make it land — that part belongs to God, in His timing, not ours.
"For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." That's God's timing — not ours.
If we give up, there's no promised harvest. If we don't, there is one — we just don't get to know when.
Good to Everyone — Especially the Family of Believers
The next verse adds an important layer: who are we supposed to be nobly good to? Everyone. But especially those who belong to the family of believers. If resources — time, money, whatever capacity you have to help — are finite, Paul seems to be saying the church gets a level of priority, a bigger portion, because they're family.
People can be difficult. There's a phrase for it that gets used a lot: "very peopley." That's the real challenge — not recognizing a need or wanting to help, but sticking with people who make it hard to keep showing up for them.
The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called The Tipping Point. The premise, in short: there's no clean, linear map for when something takes off. A campaign might get nothing for 5,000 attempts, and on attempt 5,001, the floodgates open. Nobody can fully explain why — it just took those first 5,000 to break the seal.
That's a fitting picture for this passage. We keep showing up for people — not knowing if it's the 12th time or the 20th time that finally lands — trusting that God will step in, at the proper time, and bring in the harvest from the seed that's already been sown.
Don't grow weary in doing good. The harvest is coming. It's just not always on our schedule.
You can catch this devotional and every weekday message live on carltondewaynedunko.com, Monday through Thursday at 9:15 AM Eastern. Carlton also co-hosts the original 9:15 Devotional, where you'll find the full video archive and more ways to connect.