Don't Be A Quitter

Don't Be a Quitter
Recently I came across the Bible that my grandmother gave me when I was a child. I opened it and found a number of passages underlined that contained the very wisdom I should have practiced in my late teens and early twenties. Instead I walked away from God and His Word. What I thought was important enough to underline soon got shelved because my plan for my life sounded so much more "fun". Seeing that Bible was a sad reminder that at one time I was a quitter.
Perhaps you are tempted right now to quit. It may seem your prayers go unanswered. Things just don't seem to change. You don't understand your circumstances. Maybe you want to slam your Bible shut and put it on the shelf. Hebrews tells us to "lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." (Heb. 12:1 NKJV) The weights we need to lay aside may be good things but we are unwilling to wait for God's best. Each of us knows all too well the sins that ensnare us. But I want to focus on the race itself.
What will keep you and me in the race? It is knowing that the race ahead will be hard so we can prepare to run it. Not long ago I learned that the word race is the word agon in the original Greek. This is where we get our English word agony. In reality what we read is "let us run with endurance the agony that is set before us. " Do you only want your way? A life of ease and pleasure? When was the last time you heard the honest truth that the Christian life is one of agony as well as victory? We have chosen the most difficult, agonizing way, the narrow way! Ladies, there is so much teaching telling us that we are to have lives of prosperity, health and wealth. Let's be balanced according to the Word of God! If we know we will have a rough road ahead and prepare our hearts through prayer, study of and obedience to the Word we will receive from Him the joy we are looking for and the strength to endure and overcome! Jesus tells us we will have trials and tribulations not a rose garden. Will trials and tribulations surprise us? Disillusion us? Cause us to quit?
"We, too, often forget that God lays our afflictions upon us, if we remembered this fact, we should more patiently submit to the pressure which now pains us. The time will come when for every ounce of present burden, we shall receive a far more exceedingly and eternal weight of glory." Charles H. Spurgeon Please read James 1:2-4, 1 Peter4:12-13 and Romans 8:18 Keep running the race! I know it is agony but don't be a quitter!
Kathy Withers serves in the America's KESWICK Book and Gift Shop and is a gifted Bible teacher and speaker.