“We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.” 2 Corinthians 4:9 NLT
“What happens to you is not what matters most; what happens after that matters more.”
My thoughts today are about, “too soon to quit.”
Everyone feels like quitting sometime. If you haven’t yet, you will; just don’t quit permanently. That’s not negative or pessimistic; that’s just reality. Things don’t always go well. Things won’t always go in your favor. It’s not always what happens to you that matters most; usually, it is what happens after what happened that matters more! Don’t give in to your feelings to give up. Dust yourself off, and get ready to resume the journey. You will heal. Neither your frustration nor your failure is final, just inconvenient bumps in the road. Wow; that sounds like a lot of clichés. But I think that’s good and practical advice.
Do you wish your situation had happened differently? Of course you do, but it didn’t; deal with the reality. Examine your situation honestly but positively. Lay it out before the Lord, asking His wisdom and direction. Don’t waste the experience; learn something useful to help you in the future. Resume life quickly; continue forward as soon as you feel capable of doing so. Expect things to be better not worse. If Paul, writing from prison, was able to say “the things that have happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the Gospel” (Philippians 1:12 NKJV), then you and I can trust God to rule in the events and circumstances of our everyday lives.
The Bible puts disappointments, disruption of schedules, and minimal inconveniences in perspective by comparing your experiences in contrast to Jesus’ sacrifice for your salvation: “Let us run with perseverance the race . . fixing our eyes on Jesus . . who endured the cross, scorning its shame . . consider Him that endured such opposition from sinful men . . so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” Hebrews 12:1-4 NIV. That clarifies the context for times when things don’t go well for you. Jesus didn’t quit on you; don’t lose hope in Him. I guess my Dad did not support quitting. He said, “It is always too soon to quit, especially when you feel like it.”
Resisting reality won’t change it. Sitting in the midst of a mess will not make anything better. Everybody struggles occasionally; not everybody quits every time. Some people don’t quit anytime! Paul describes such fateful moments of decision this way, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down be we get up again and keep going . . that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 NLT.
Pressured, perplexed, pursued, or punched? Whatever your situation right now, you are in a good company of overcomers. “To Him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Revelation 3:21 NIV. Overcome or overcomer? I choose the latter for both of us.
My prayer for you today is: don’t give up on yourself or on God, however tough the moment.