NARNIA: PRESSING ON
Galatians 6:7-10
HAVE YOU EVER FELT LIKE GIVING UP? Quitting on life? Throwing in the towel? If so, you may take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. This is the common lot of men. Discouragement is the devil’s chief tool. He wields it often and strikes with impunity.
In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Susan, the eldest of four children comes to a point of doing just that. She wants to turn back, to go home. The way is hard. The task is too difficult. The White Witch has left a threatening note that sends chills up and down their spines. But Lucy declares that they must press on, especially because she believes that she is responsible for a friend (Mr. Tumnus) being in danger. She is motivated by love and loyalty. Though the way is hard, they must continue on to do what they can to rescue a friend.
Everyone of us have times when we feel like quitting. Our problems may vary, but what’s the difference? The end result is the same. It isn’t easy to live a godly life in a godless world. But then it never has been. In fact, Jesus warned us to expect valleys as well as mountain tops.
When we feel like Susan, its time to look again at verse nine of our scripture passage: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
What this verse is really saying in essence is, “DON’T QUIT!” If we quit, we’ll lose our rewards; but if we don’t quit we shall reap a reward that has been promised in God’s Word.
In other words, “Don’t let your defeats defeat you.” Don’t let discouragements, failures and disappointments which seem to heap themselves upon you cause you to say, “I give up.”:
Looking back on your life, were there some things you wish you hadn’t quit? School? A diet? Exercise program? Piano lessons? A job? A relationship?
Its easier to go out and play than to practice scales. Its easier to watch TV than to attend a Bible study. Its easier to walk out of a room after an argument than to stay and try to work through it. Its easier to sleep in than to get up and attend church. Its easier to give in to that temptation than it is to say, “No!”
What determines our success or failure as a Christian is not the valley that we may go through, but what we do while passing that way! Let me share with you several huge contributing factors as to why people often give up. If we recognize them and are prepared to deal with them, then we can avoid the “quitter’s syndrome.” We can ascribe to the adage, “When the going gets tough, the tough keep going.”
1. CRITICISM
The only people in this world that are never criticized are people who do nothing. They don’t stand for anything. They don’t live for anything. They don’t believe in anything. They just kind of drift along with the current.
Whenever you try to do anything great for God, there will be those that love you and those that do not. The devil will see to it. In fact, you can be sure of it. Jesus said it would be so. But He also said, “Don’t quit.”
Two of the greatest men who were living during the 40’s, who helped shape the future of our world were Winston Churchill and Douglas McArthur. And both of them had this quote on their office walls from Abraham Lincoln:
“If I were to try to read, much less answer all the attacks
made on me, this shop may as well be closed for any
other business. I do the very best I can and the very
best I know how. And I mean to keep on doing that to
the very end. If the end brings me out all right, then what
is said against me won’t matter. And if the end brings
me out wrong, ten angels swearing that I was right will
make no difference..”
If David had listened to the criticism offered by his brother, he never would have defeated Goliath.
A father and his son took a donkey into town to go to the market. The father rode, the son walked. Along the way, some people commented, “How selfish: a big, strong man riding on the donkey’s back while the young boy walks.” So the father traded places with his son and continued the journey. Soon, others began to say, “How disrespectful: the boy riding while the old man has to walk.” At that point, they both got on the donkey’s back, only to hear, “How cruel: two people sitting on one donkey.” So they got off and began to walk alongside the donkey. And others began to say, “How foolish: this donkey has nothing on his back and two people are walking.” In exasperation, they turned around and went home...they never made it to the market. They got their eyes off the goal and onto their critics. This is what happens when we let critics control our every move.
Don’t let the attacks of others deter you from doing what you believe to be right. Expect criticism, but don’t quit when it comes. The moon could not go on shining if it paid any attention to the little dogs that bark at it! Get your convictions from the Word and stand on them, unashamedly. Be God’s person.
2. CANNOT FIND THE SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS FACING THEM
As long as we live in this life, we will face difficulties. Answers at times will evade us. Reasons will escape us. Actually, problems are good. They exist to help us mature in the faith. They are not necessarily stops signs on the road of life; they are guidelines. And when we face a difficulty for which there seems to be no rationale, we must not give up. Turn to the Father. Cling to Him. Someday it will all make sense.
Jesus is our supreme example in this matter. He didn’t quit. He went all the way to Calvary and the cross. He was persecuted, despised, and forsaken. His own countrymen rejected Him and drove Him out of the synagogue. Yet He didn’t give up on them and return to heaven without completing His mission.
Nor did the apostles cease to preach when they ran into opposition. They had been commissioned by the Lord Himself. The apostle Paul epitomized this attitude as he writes about it in his letter to the Corinthians: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (II Cor.4:7-9).
3. LACK OF CONFIDENCE
Don’t go through life with your head down. You are a child of God! A servant of the Most High! You’re a VIP, You were bought with the precious blood of Jesus. He has set His love upon you. He wants you to succeed in this life as a victorious Christian. And to prove to you His sincerity, He has made all the resources at His disposal available to you. So don’t quit when you feel as though you don’t have what it takes to make it through.
Jesus is praying for you. He is rooting for you, urging you on. Take a piece of paper and begin to write down all the blessings that are yours. For example:
• Indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit
• Past victories
• Mighty weapon of prayer
• Christian friends
• The promises found in the Book
When you’re feeling low, turn to Phil 4:13: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Quote it. Believe it. Live it–even when you don’t FEEL it. Trust the Lord. He is at work in your life to take you to higher places than you ever dreamed of. “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
4. PAST FAILURES
Thomas Edison had 3,000 failures before he finally succeeded with the common light bulb. They laughed at him. They said it couldn’t be done, but he kept right on. He didn’t let past failures stop him. The true test of character is what it takes to stop you! Don’t quit!
When he was three years old, Johnny Fulton was struck by a car. They thought he would always be a cripple, but he learned not only to walk, but to run and became the first man to run a half mile in less than two minutes.
And then there was the fat kid who wanted to play baseball. He made so many errors that they asked him to quit, but he wouldn’t. Instead, he resolved to make one less mistake every day; and he is now immortalized in the Baseball Hall of Fame. His name? Lou Gehrig! Don’t quit!
5. BECAUSE ONE IS LOSING
Life is made up of a succession of wins and loses and the sooner we realize that, the better we shall function. Losing is one thing. Quitting is quite another. Apollo Ono, a speed skater in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, was in the lead going into the homestretch. Another skater tripped him up, along with four others. He went crashing, along with most of the other skaters into the side of the arena and was badly cut in his leg. Later that cut required several stitches. The Australian skater, who was in last place at the time of the incident, kept going and skated past the other fallen skaters, taking the gold medal. Ono, instead of quitting, had the presence of mind to CRAWL over the finish line and take the silver medal.
In the Christian life, there will be times when we fall. But by God’s grace we will get back up and finish. Paul said it best in his last letter: “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race.”
6. IMPATIENCE
Some people quit because they’re impatient. They want immediate results. If they don’t get them they begin to pout and give up. We need to understand that there will be times when results will not be immediate–not because we have failed but because other forces are at work. And then, of course, we must remember that God’s time table and ours are not always the same.
Some missionaries have spent their entire lives proclaiming the Gospel with almost no visible fruit. But their successors reaped a great harvest. What if all these godly people had quit just because they weren’t seeing immediate results. As the scriptures say, “Some plant, some water, some harvest.”
After several hours of fishing the little girl suddenly threw down her pole and cried, “I quit!” “What’s the matter?” her father asked her. “Nothing,” said the child, “except I can’t seem to get waited on.” Remember, it takes time to make a good cake! The same can be said of a life!
CONCLUSION
Life is not an easy road. It is made up of steep hills, mountains, holes, curves, and dangerous drop-offs. Expect problems, but don’t quit. Expect setbacks, but don’t give up. Expect valleys, but don’t throw in the towel. Expect criticism, but don’t check out. Expect misunderstanding, but don’t retreat. Expect delays, but don’t stop.
If you quit, several negative things will likely occur:
• You will never reach the potential that God has for you.
• You damage your self respect and thus nourish a failure image of yourself
• You slowly become negative–find a problem in every solution
• You lose your dream–which means you are dead inside
• You encourage others to quit
Before we finish, let me give you some ways to conquer the quitting habit:
• Realize that failure is not final
• Believe in yourself and your God
• Understand that all people have problems
• Do something worthwhile
• Set realistic goals
• Ask others for help
• Commit yourself to someone
• Visualize your success
• Bring your problems to the feet of Jesus
