Don't Give Up

June 21, 2012

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. -- 2Corinthians 4: 16-18 (NLT)

Tucked away at the conclusion of the fourth chapter of the second letter to the Church at Corinth, we find this recipe for Christian resilience based upon the correct perspective we ought to have as believers. Too often we can have our vision out of focus beloved. Let's face it, we live in a world that runs contrary to what we believe as Christians and seeks to derail us at every turn. We also live in the flesh, which is always seeking to gratify its basest desires instead of listening to what the Lord says. Lastly, we have an enemy to our souls who never sleeps from his mission to steal kill and destroy. All in all, it is not surprising when we falter as believers with so much bearing down on us. The message today for us is that God understands beloved. He sees every tear that falls and in fact, He saves them:

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. -- Psalm 56: 8 (NLT)

God does not waste a hurt. He is not a casual God who does not care about the suffering of His children. In Revelation we are told that when Christ returns He will wipe every tear from our eyes and there will be no more pain and suffering. But until then the message from God is that we cannot give up.

As cancer was destroying his body, famous college basketball coach Jim Valvano gave a stirring speech at an awards ceremony where his principle message in the face of impending death was -- "don't give up, don't ever give up." A message for all of us today, no matter what it is that we find ourselves facing. We even more so though because of who we believe in. Because we serve a God that has already defeated death. Because we serve a God who has already overcome this world. Let's take a look at the key verses today"

Working backwards in the key verses we discover first that usually for us this life is an issue of focus. It boils down to what it is that we choose to focus on that determines our outlook. The Apostle Paul draws a clear delineation between what we see now -- the temporal, and what we cannot see now -- the eternal. He emphatically states that we do not look at the troubles we can see now! But how often do we do just that? How often do we make sure our lives revolve around our troubles? How often do we seek out the drama that encompasses our lives? The simplest Biblical example is when Peter walks on water. He is the only disciple brave enough to step out of the boat. He does so in the middle of a fierce storm. The boat represents our life. The storm represents the myriad of problems we will face in this life. Here is what happened after Peter was already walking on the water:

But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted. -- Matthew 14: 30 (NLT)

Were there strong winds when Peter had stepped out of the boat? Absolutely but he was not focusing on them -- his eyes were on Jesus. But then the wind howled and Peter took his focus off of Jesus and onto his problems and he began to sink in those problems. This is the same thing we must face every single day. We walk out our front door into the world and we know all about the problems we have. We know about the economy, the job, the bills, the kids, the spouse, the MD report or any other number of things that are howling at us like a fierce wind. But standing in the middle of all of those problems is Jesus and He is motioning for us to concentrate on Him and walk towards Him. As long as we keep that focus on Him we do not sink in our problems. They are still there of course but we trust and have faith that the one that we serve is bigger than the problems we face. It always is an issue of faith:

Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. "You have so little faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?" -- Matthew 14: 31 (NLT)

When we choose to focus on the problems we face we essentially doubt that God is bigger than them. I am not speaking about denial of our problems. I am talking about making them bigger than the God we serve. Continuing in the key verses we see God remind us that the nature of our problems is actually a lot smaller than we even realize in the light of eternity. Even more so, our problems can serve to bring glory to God, which will last forever. How do our small temporal problems have the capacity to bring eternal glory? Because of how other people watch us deal with those problems. The people in the world are walking in darkness and are just begging for a reason to believe. Despite what some pseudo-preachers will have us believe -- this is not our best life and people are painfully aware of it. They need to see believers who face their problems with faith and encouragement. Someone who doesn't curse when everything goes wrong but instead smiles. Someone who walks on the water of their problems without worrying about the storm around them. When they see that, they will want what we have. When they then come to Jesus for the same salvation and peace we exhibited -- THAT is how our small temporal problems create eternal glory for the King of Kings!

Lastly, from the key verses we see the answer to not giving up is always found in the renewing of our Spirit. Paul draws an interesting comparison for us to consider. Our mortal bodies have been constantly in a state of natural decay from the moment we were born. Our bodies are constantly breaking down. The only thing inevitable in this life is indeed -- death. But contrary to that we have the Spirit of the living God inside of us as believers and that Spirit is ever growing. It is being renewed each day. But just like we can contribute to delaying the death process through diet and exercise, we must be an active participant in the renewal process. It is not like God renews our Spirit as we sleep. Whatever we decide to feed will get stronger in our life. If we feed the flesh, then our flesh will grow stronger inside of us. If we choose to feed our Spirit then the Spirit will grow stronger in our lives.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. -- Galatians 5: 24-25 (NLT)

This is why we must never give up when the problems of life rise up against us. We need to seek Him more and renew our Spirit so that God will be stronger in our lives and thus become bigger than the problems we may face. In fact those problems are much smaller than we realize when we match them up with the eternal life we already possess as being children of the living God and we need to use those problems to bring further glory to the God we serve. In fact we can bring eternal glory to God by showing everyone that He is bigger than anything we might face on this mortal coil. As with so much of our failure or success it is a matter of focus. The enemy will whip up the winds and the storms in our lives to make them seem insurmountable. God is still out there in the middle of it and He understands how the storm makes us feel but He is asking us to consider what we believe. Faith over feelings. Don't give up"don't ever give up.

Rev. Anthony