Sometimes it seems like you're doing everything you know how to grow spiritually and to reach out to others, and yet nothing works... you don't seem to be getting anywhere. At the same time, you look around and see people who cheat on the truth, and they seem to just keep on growing in power and influence. Here is an inspirational story to encourage you to stay faithful.

It's about a Chinese emperor who was growing old and he needed a successor. He didn't want to choose someone high up in the government, or one of his own relatives. Instead, he called all of the school children in his town to a meeting, and he told them that he was going to give each one of them a seed; he wanted them to plant the seed, then return a year later with their plant, to show him how they had progressed. Based on their efforts, he would choose one of them to take over as emperor after he died.

One particular boy, named Ling, planted his seed very carefully in a pot of rich black soil, and he faithfully watered it. However, day after day passed, and it did not sprout. Soon weeks had passed, and there was no sign of growth at all. He visited some of his friends, and their seeds were growing nicely. For the entire year he tried everything he could think of to make his seed grow, but nothing worked. When it came time for the children to bring their plants to the meeting with the emperor, Ling was almost too embarrassed to go. However, he felt that it was his duty to tell the emperor the truth about his failure.

All the children were gathered together in a huge hall, and the emperor moved quickly from child to child, examining their plants. Way in the back was Ling with his empty pot. When the emperor saw him, he immediately asked his guards to bring Ling up on the stage in front of all the people. Ling was horrified, thinking that he was going to be punished in front of the crowd.

Instead, the emperor announced that Ling was to be their next emperor. Everyone was shocked, but especially Ling. And then the emperor began to explain:

"Before I handed out the seeds last year," he said, "I boiled them all, making it impossible for them to grow into new plants. I wanted a successor who would be honest, even if it made him look bad, and Ling is that person. The rest of you cheated, in an attempt to impress me; but Ling was faithful, and he was honest."

Pretty good, eh? And I think that God often sets it up like that too, to see if we will stay faithful to him, be honest about our failures, and do the right thing regardless of how successful it is.

So stay faithful, even if it seems like you're getting nowhere!

Dave McKay and his wife Cherry are co-founders of the Jesus Christian communities, with teams in Australia, the United Kingdom, America, and Kenya. Dave is the author of the Christian endtime novel "Survivors". You can visit their website at http://jesuschristians.com