We have a plan!  We know just what the world around us needs, and we know how to make good things happen.  So, we roll up our sleeves and get to work and . . . it all flops.  Nobody listened.  Nobody thanked us.  In fact, we likely were criticized, ignored, or ridiculed for our efforts.  We labored in vain.  We spent our strength for nothing and vanity.

This song could be entitled, Welcome to the Discouraging Life of Servanthood.  But it’s not.  Rather, the song does three things.  First, it acknowledges that we can become very discouraged when we love and serve others.  Don’t be surprised that we will often feel that we our efforts have been worthless.  However, we aren’t left in our discouragement.  Rather than settle down in defeat, we are encouraged to remember that God is at the heart of all we do.  God has been the inspiration for our love, and God is also the endpoint of all our service.  We are called to faithfulness, not results.  In fact, our faithfulness creates more ways for us to love and serve.  With Servant Jesus, we are called to be lights of healing and restoration for the whole world.  As faithful lights, our love is never in vain.