Galatians 6:9—And let us not be
weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (KJV)
Galatians 6:9—And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint
in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the
appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our
courage and faint. (AMP)
2 Corinthians 4
(TLB) - 1It is God himself, in his mercy, who has given us this
wonderful work of telling his Good News to others, and so we never give up.
2We do not try to trick people into believing—we are not interested
in fooling anyone. We never try to get anyone to believe that the Bible teaches
what it doesn’t. All such shameful methods we forego. We stand in the presence
of God as we speak and so we tell the truth, as all who know us will
agree. 3If the Good News we
preach is hidden to anyone, it is hidden from the one who is on the road to
eternal death. 4Satan, who is the god of this evil world, has
made him blind, unable to see the glorious light of the Gospel that is
shining upon him or to understand the amazing message we preach about the glory
of Christ, who is God. 5We don’t go around preaching about ourselves
but about Christ Jesus as Lord. All we say of ourselves is that we are your
slaves because of what Jesus has done for us. 6For God, who said,
“Let there be light in the darkness,” has made us understand that it is the
brightness of his glory that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. 7But
this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us—is held in
a perishable container, that is, in our weak bodies. Everyone can see that the
glorious power within must be from God and is not our own. 8We
are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We
are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we
don’t give up and quit. 9We are hunted down, but God
never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep
going. 10These bodies of ours are constantly facing death just
as Jesus did; so it is clear to all that it is only the living Christ within
who keeps us safe.11Yes, we live under constant danger to
our lives because we serve the Lord, but this gives us constant opportunities
to show forth the power of Jesus Christ within our dying bodies. 12Because
of our preaching we face death, but it has resulted in eternal life for
you. 13We boldly say what we believe, trusting God to care for us,
just as the psalm writer did when he said, “I believe and therefore I speak.” 14We
know that the same God who brought the Lord Jesus back from death will also
bring us back to life again with Jesus and present us to him along with you. 15These
sufferings of ours are for your benefit. And the more of you who are won to
Christ, the more there are to thank him for his great kindness, and the more
the Lord is glorified. 16That is why we never give up. Though
our bodies are dying, our inner strength in the Lord is growing every
day. 17These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite
small and won’t last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in
God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever! 18So we do not look
at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward
to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be
over, but the joys to come will last forever.
More than one person has been
tempted to give up in the midst of difficult times.
A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and
how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it
and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed that
as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with
water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the
first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and the last she
placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the
carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She then pulled the eggs out and placed
them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.
Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?"
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.
She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did
and noted that they were soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it.
After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she
asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.
The daughter then asked, "What does it mean,
Mother?"
Her mother explained that each of these
objects had faced the same adversity -- boiling water -- but each reacted
differently. The carrot went in
strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling
water, it softened and became weak. The
egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid
interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became
hardened. The ground coffee beans
were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed
the water.
"Which are you?" she asked her
daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you
a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"
Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot
that seems strong, but with pain and adversity? Do I wilt and become soft and
lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable
heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death,
a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and
stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough
with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean
actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain.
When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor of your life. If
you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and
change the situation around you. When the hours are the darkest and trials are
their greatest, do you elevate to another level?
How do you handle adversity? Are you changed by your
surroundings or do you bring life, flavor, to them?
ARE YOU A
CARROT, AN EGG, OR A COFFEE BEAN? Paul
was a coffee bean!
Paul gives us a keyhole view of the boiling water,
the adversities and hardships he went through as a Christian and minister of
the gospel.
"...We
were really crushed and overwhelmed, and feared we would never live through
it. We felt we were doomed to die and
saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put
everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us, for he can even
raise the dead" (2Cor. 1:8, 9).
In Chapter Four, Paul tells us that he had to deal
with Satanic opposition.
"Satan,
who is the god of this evil world, has made men blind, unable to see the
glorious light of the Gospel that is shining upon him, or to understand the
amazing message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is God" (4:4).
In
addition to this Paul had to contend with adverse circumstances.
"We are
pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don't know why
things happen as they do, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons
us. We get knocked down, but we get up
again and keep going….We are under the constant danger of death to our lives
because we serve the Lord…" (4:8,9,10, 11).
§
Pressed. Under pressure from every side,
but not compressed or crushed in spirit.
§
Perplexed. We don't know the answer to why
and what, but we refuse to give up and quit.
§
Persecuted. We are chased by many
adversaries and adversities, but God is with us.
§
Prostrated. We've been thrown down more
than once, but we remain unbroken.
Any one of these circumstances would be enough for
most people to give up and quit, but not Paul.
His resounding response to problems and opposition was "WE NEVER
GIVE UP...WE NEVER QUIT."
THE STUFF!
"A little brown cork fell in the path of a whale,
Who lashed it down with his angry tail.
But in spite of its blows it quickly arose,
And floated serenely before his nose.
Said the cork to the whale:
You may flap and sputter and frown,
But you never never
can keep me down;
For I'm made of the stuff
That is buoyant enough
To float instead of to drown."
What is "the
stuff" that makes us buoyant enough to float instead of to
drown? What kept PAUL going? What enabled him to keep going when others
gave up and quit?
"It is God
himself, in his mercy, who has given us
this wonderful work [of telling his Good News to others, and so we never give
up"
(4:1). Our response isn't to the
circumstances, but to The Call.
Never ask if you're being effective.
Rather ask am I being faithful.
As long as effectiveness is the ultimate standard by which we
judge our actions, we will act only toward ends we are sure we can achieve. Just because something is impossible doesn't
mean we shouldn't do it.
DON'T QUIT
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you mut--but don't you quit.
Life is strange with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up, though the pace seems slow
You might succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and falters man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup
And he learned too late, when night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint to the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit.
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit!
"Because
of our preaching we face death, but it has resulted in eternal life for you. These sufferings of ours are for your benefit. And the
more of you who are won to Christ, the more there are to thank him for his
great kindness, and the more the Lord is glorified. That is why we never give
up." (4:12,
15, 16). Paul was not in the ministry
for himself, but to fulfill the call of God on His life. He went bound in the spirit to
A.
OTHERS RECEIVED THE GIFT OF LIFE – He faced death that
others might know life.
B.
THE GLORY OF THE LORD - More believers means that there are more people to
glorify Him.
Illus: A true leader is committed to the cause,
and does not become the cause. Staying personally dedicated to the cause
can become extremely difficult, particularly if the cause succeeds. A subtle
change in thinking can overtake the leader of a successful ministry. He or she
begins "needing" certain things to carry on the ministry--things that
were not needed earlier.
I admire Mother Teresa, who decided after
winning the Nobel Prize that she would not go to accept any more recognition
because it interfered with her work. She knew she was not in the business of
accepting prizes; she was in the business of serving the poor of
Citation: Fred Smith, Learning To Lead. (Christianity
Don’t
come off the wall! Don’t get distracted
from the purpose God has called you to fulfill.
Stay true to the cause!
"God
never abandons us" (4:9). God is with us.
Carl Conner tells of a heavy winter storm
that hit
Where trees stood alone, however, the effect
of the heavy snow was different. The branches had become heavier and heavier,
and since there were no other trees to lean against, the branches snapped. They
lay on the ground, dark and alone in the cold snow.
When the storms of life hit, we need to be
standing close to other Christians and even closer to God. The closer we stand,
the more we will be able withstand.
Citation: Carl G. Conner,
A.
NOW - There
is no reason to fear. "Fear not, for I am with thee."
Writer
Kenneth Wilson tells of growing up in
That house in which we lived on the side of
one of
Kenneth remembers that, being the youngest,
he had to go to bed first, braving that floor of dark bedrooms. It felt like a
long way up the steps, especially because they did not have electricity above
the second floor, and a gas light had to be turned on, then
turned off once the boy was settled.
That bed in that room on the third floor
seemed to be at the end of the earth, remote from human habitation, close to
unexplained noises and dark secrets. At my urging, my father would try to stop
the windows from rattling, wedging wooden matchsticks into the cracks. But they
always rattled in spite of his efforts. Sometimes he would read me a story, but
inevitably the time would come when he would turn out the light and shut the
door, and I would hear his steps on the stairs, growing fainter and fainter.
Then all would be quiet, except for the rattling windows and my cowering
imagination.
Once, I
remember, my father said, "Would you rather I leave the light on and go
downstairs, or turn the light out and stay with you for awhile?" . . . [I
chose] presence with darkness, over absence with light.[1]
B.
FUTURE - "the same God who brought the Lord Jesus back from
death will also bring us back to life again with Jesus" (
"These
troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won't last very
long. Yet this short time of distress
will result in God's richest blessing upon us forever and ever! So we
do not look at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which
we have not yet seen. The troubles
will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever" (
A. TINY – They are insignificant in
light of the joys to come.
B. TEMPORARY - They only last for a short time.
In the midst of World
War II,
That’s great advice—“Never Give
Up!”
TWO FROGS
Two
frogs fell into a can of cream,
Or
so I've heard it told;
The
sides of the can were shiny and steep,
The
cream was deep and cold.
O,
what's the use? Croaked No. 1.
'Tis fate; no help's around.
Goodbye,
my friends! Goodbye, sad world!
And
weeping still, he drowned.
But
Number 2, of sterner stuff,
Dog-paddled
in surprise,
The
While he wiped his creamy face
And
dried his creamy eyes.
I'll
swim awhile, at least," he said--
Or
so I've heard he said;
It
really wouldn't help the world
If
one more frog were dead.
An
hour or two he kicked and swam,
Not
once he stopped to mutter,
But
kicked and kicked and swam and kicked,
Then
hopped out, via butter!
--T.
C. Hamlet
The Call demands that you never
give up.
The Cause demands that you never
give up.
The
Companionship demands that you never give up.
The
Consolation demands that you never give up.
[1]
Citation: Kenneth L. Wilson,
Have Faith without Fear (Harper & Row, 1970), p. 54; from Timothy K.
Jones, Prayer's Apprentice (Word, forthcoming)