day no. 12,721: tentmakers must be willing to forgo a measure of career achievement and private leisure for the privilege of gaining the prize

And for tentmakers to survive three full-time jobs (work, family, and ministry), they must also adopt a sacrificial lifestyle. Tentmakers must live a pruned life and literally find leisure and rest in the rhythm of serving Christ (Matt 11:28). They must be willing to forgo a measure of career achievement and private leisure for the privilege of gaining the prize (Phil 3:14). Many would like to be tentmakers if they could be wealthy and live a leisurely and cultural lifestyle. But the truth is that a significant ministry in the church and the community can only come by sacrifice. ~ R. Paul Stevens

It is a privilege to be prompted to surrender everything by God in gaining all the riches of Christ.

It is hard work.
It is exhausting.
It is wearisome.

It is an honor.

Matthew 19:29

And everyone who has left houses, brothers or sisters, father or mother, children, or fields because of My name will receive 100 times more and will inherit eternal life.

 

He didn't have to promise to bless it.

He could have commanded it.

He deserves it.

He alone is worth the effort and abandon.

 

But He is generous and grants us more than we can imagine in coming to Him with abandon.