A couple years ago, my husband and I attempted an eating plan called Whole 30. Basically, for 30 days, just you take all the joy out of eating. Not really. But kind of. No grains, no dairy, no sugar, no processed food, no ingredients that you can't pronounce. Its actually a super healthy way to eat. Really, it is. But by day four I was putting cream back in my coffee, because black coffee just isn't a pleasant start to the day. But that's just me. I kept telling my husband “It’s not that its too hard, I just don’t want to do it.” To which he would reply, smiling slightly, "So then it is too hard." Days went on, and we debated giving up lots of times, but I was just generally a little cranky and so hungry and sort of bitter toward the whole thing. So on day 17 we caved and had cake from a local cafe and called it good. And we felt something. . . happiness. Oh yes. Essentially, we quit. I was a quitter. BUT I’ll never know how great I COULD have felt after 30 days because I didn’t give it enough time. It got “too hard” so I quit.
But I bet I'm not the only person who has ever quit something. If we're honest, I bet we all have things in our lives that make us want to give up. I think a lot of us freak out when we've decided to walk with Jesus, and hard stuff and scary stuff still happens in our life, and we think "I didn't sign up for this God. I'm done with you." Or maybe there's some of us who have gotten so frustrated because we can't "feel" God's presence with us and other people are talking about how they can FEEL God near them and HEAR God speaking to them and we just wonder if maybe the whole thing isn't for us anymore because its not “working,” (whatever that means). But you know what? Here's what I'm finding: at some point, life will get difficult.
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So what do we do? If you're reading with, there is one thing I want you to remember.
Even when you feel like giving up. . .don’t.
In the Bible we read in Hebrews 12:1-2, "Therefore, since weare surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
*Side note: the "great cloud of witnesses" sounds mystical and mysterious, but really that phrase is a fancy way of describing an awesome group of people who have walked with Jesus before us. Take a look at Hebrews 11 when you have a minute and read more about it.
What I love about this group of people being mentioned is that it makes it IMPOSSIBLE for us to truly believe that we are alone or that we have it the hardest. I believe one of Satan’s greatest tactics in hindering people from trusting God is to convince them that their life is THE hardest. I think many people are stuck believing some things like this:
No one has EVER had as difficult of circumstances as I have. No one has a worse past than me, I'm too broken to be able to follow Jesus. All THOSE people can walk with Jesus, but I can't. You don't understand. No one has ever been as tempted by this sin as I am! No one has ever screwed up more than I have. Satan wants to keep our eyes fixed on our circumstances and on ourselves, so that we won’t fix our eyes on Jesus and move forward.
I appreciate that the author of Hebrews compared our Christian life to running...the kind of running that requires perseverance. The fact that the word "perseverance" is used here to describe the way we are called to run tells me that I might not always want to run. Spoiler alert: we might, at some point, feeling like giving up. There I said it. And that’s okay to admit. You don’t NEED perseverance for easy things. But perseverance is the thing that kicks in when you want to quit and says, “Even when you feel like giving up, don’t.”
Perseverance means we keep going even when it sucks. Following Jesus is not a sprint. This is a long-distance, long term thing. More like a marathon. Which, in any other context of my life, I have no desire to participate in. But the marathon of following Jesus? I’m in. We have to run, even when it isn’t fun. Keep going. Even when we come to parts of OUR RACE that we don’t care for. Hills. Mud. Hard trails. Twists and turns we didn't see coming.
Even when you feel like giving up, don’t. But what’s the key to being able to KEEP RUNNING? Fixing our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2).
Let me give you an example. If you have your driver's license, you may have heard of a concept called object fixation. Essentially that means that where you look, you’ll go. If you don’t want to crash into that tree, look at the road, not the tree. So it got me thinking. If I’m constantly thinking about my sin, I’ll probably keep messing up. If I’m constantly dwelling on my past, I’ll have a really hard time moving forward into what God has for my future. If I’m constantly looking around comparing myself to other runners, I might get discouraged that I’m not as fast as her or as in shape as him and wonder, "Why am I running at all?" But if I look to JESUS, I remember that He is the one who created me to run, and the one who will help me keep going.
Looking to Jesus gives us perspective. Jesus, “...who, for the JOY set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted" (Hebrews 12:2).
I'm not over-dramatizing when I say this, but Jesus did the hardest thing in all of human history. He entered our world as a human. He became the ultimate sacrifice for every sin you and I have ever done and will ever do, and every sin in all of human history. He died the most brutal death in the form of crucifixion, to take on himself the punishment we deserved for all the times we’ve messed up. All so that WE could have life and forgiveness and hope and relationship with Him. Jesus was able to look beyond the immediate to the ultimate. Why? So that we may not grow weary or fainthearted. He endured so that we can endure. When it feels like the world is crumbling in on you, remember that Jesus never gave up on you.
Even when you feel like giving up, don’t.
What if we became the generation that didn't quit? The ones who didn’t walk away from our faith just because sin is tempting and persecution is real and opposition is scary and being different takes courage? We could be the next generation’s "cloud of witnesses" like the ones in Hebrews 12.
The people who help the reverse the statistics of the number of people who walk away from their faith after they graduate high school. Maybe more middle school students would get to high school believing that it is possible to KEEP walking with Jesus through high school because they’d seen it done. More high school students would graduate with some resolve that they could KEEP walking with Jesus in college. And maybe college students would head into adulthood ready to leave a legacy of perseverance and faithfulness for those who will follow them.
What if we became the generation who kept walking with Jesus even when a few months go by without being able to “feel” His presence, because we choose to TRUST that if He says He is with us, then He’s with us?
What if we became the generation who just DID NOT GIVE UP, EVEN WHEN WE FELT LIKE IT?
You can do this. It will be worth it, I promise.
Even when you feel like giving up . . . don’t.
