REFUSE THE DESIRE TO QUIT
John 11:38-44
INTRODUCTION
Have we noticed that there are so many people who fail in their relationships, their careers, and their lives because they quit?
Because it is easy to give up on a relationship than to restore it.
It is easy to resign from your task than to complete it.
It is easier to spend your money than to save and invest it.
It is easy to lose hope than to use our faith.
It is easier to quit life when we are amid pressures, a lot of troubles, and disappointment rather than to face it, move forward and embrace it.
It is good to quit something that is bad and does not add value in life but not in the sense that we quit life as a whole.
SUICIDE STATISTICS
I am surprised that 700,000 people are dying every year as per the World Health Organization data twice the number of homicides. This translates to 40 people every second aside from the staggering number of people who attempted to do it. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29 years of age.
Suicide is a serious threat to public health problems as most of them are preventable. This happens impulsively in the moment of crisis with a breakdown in the ability of a person to deal with life stresses such as financial problems, relationship break-ups, or chronic pain & illness.
What does this figure tell us?
That there is a real problem happening around us that we are not aware, of or we just take for granted.
QUITTING BEYOND LOSING LIFE
Quitting is not just about ending one’s life through suicide.
Some people still reporting for work physically but have already resigned from their jobs.
There might be a couple who sleeps together in their bed but in reality, they are already separated.
We may know some of our friends who are still working as OFW, but their mind is already back home.
We may be surprised what happened to your child whom you know/excelled in class but later on, she/he quits studying.
To surrender is the easiest thing to do.
This urge to quit is something most of us sometimes experience.
SHOW ME WHERE YOU STOP
In verse 32, When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Jesus asked her,” where did you lay Lazarus?”
At times, we asked God “Lord where you were and why all of these troubles and mess are happening to me?”
We retire in our situations and blame it all on others, we blame it on God as seems He doesn’t care for us.
But like in the case of Martha, Jesus knows how we feel and may ask us the same question, “Why are you so worried? Why do you quit? Tell me where you stopped.”
He might be asking you right now, “Where had you stopped? I will pick you up from where you stopped.”
Never quit as God will pick us up from where we stopped.
THE MAN AT THE POOL IN BETHESDA
Remember the story of at the pool of Bethesda?
The man was there beside the pool, hoping for healing but already resigned in his situation.
He was on the porch where people are half alive and half dead. They were surviving.
When Jesus saw him, the man sighted his regrets and hopelessness for receiving a miracle because no one carried him to the pool when an angel stirred the pool.
For 38 long years, he was almost there but not able to achieve it. It was so close but not close enough.
Some of us quit when we are almost there, we can see the finish line but still, we can never make it.
So, we create an alibi to ease our feeling of failure. Like this man’s alibi that no one carried him to the pool.
Our alibis might be, “I’ve been working for all my life as an OFW but still here in Dubai, working. Is it worth it?”
“I had been courting her for a long time but till now I am hopeless if I can still have her sweet yes”.
“I’ve been working a long time in my company, but my employer doesn’t see and appreciate my effort. I never received a raise or promotion. I am now quitting”
The problem when we are on our porch is that we see other people on the other porches are happy, they are enjoying their life, they have everything while we compare ourselves that we are in misery, lot of pressure and stress.
Comparing our life with people better than our conditions trigger our desire to quit.
THREE FEET FROM GOLD
In the book Napoleon Hill’s Think & Grow Rich, he said that one of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when overtaken by temporary defeat.”
During the “gold fever” in the gold rush days, an uncle of R.U Darby had this lust for the gold, so he took his stake to work with a pick and shovel.
After weeks of working, he was rewarded with the discovery of shining ore. So, he needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. Quietly, he covered the mine and went back to his place and informed his relatives and friends of this amazing discovery and to pool money to buy the needed machinery.
The first car of ore was mined and delivered to a smelter. Then they proved that had one of the richest mines in Colorado, so they continue to drill and mine until something happened. The vein of gold ore disappeared, and they thought that it was the end of their journey. They drilled again desperately with sheer hope but to no avail.
Finally, they decided to quit.
They sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred bucks and took the train back home. They thought that this “junk man” was stupid. The junk man called a mining Engineer and looked at the mine and do some inspection and calculations. The Engineers advised that the project failed because the previous owners were not familiar with the “fault lines”.
Based on his calculations, the vein of gold can be found just three feet from where the Darby had stopped drilling. And voila! That is exactly what they found.
The junk man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine because he continued what others started. He seeks the counsel of experts before giving up.
And this life lesson of Mr. R. U Darby becomes gold when he ventured into selling life insurance. “I may stop three feet from the gold, but I will never stop because men say “no” when I ask him to buy insurance.”
HOW WE CAN DEFY THE URGE TO QUIT
LOOK FOR THE PRIZE NOT FOR THE SACRIFICE
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
-1 Corinthians 9:24 says
“But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded”
-2 Chronicles 15:7
When we focus only on our sacrifices, on our hardships, we will lose our determination to continue the race we started.
Never worry about the beating, focus on winning. This might be the motto of boxers. Watching Manny Pacquiao wins inside the rings, we wait only for him to receive the champion’s belt, but if we will follow him behind the scenes, we cannot imagine the difficulties, the hard work and discipline, and the punches he also received.
It took hard work, patience, and determination but the prize of winning is much more than the hardship you encountered.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
No temptations have overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
- 1 Corinthians 10:13
God will always provide us an option, an alternative so that we could have our way out.
Problem is not given when there are no answers to that.
When there is a death option, there are also life options.
In every desperate situation, there will always be another solution.
In addition, we are not alone in our struggles. The cross you may carry is less weight than the cross being carried by others.
Look around you and you will know that we may see ourselves better than the others.
Remember that we are not alone. It is common to man.
NEVER BE OVERWHELMED BY TEMPORARY SETBACKS
Everything is temporary.
Never be defeated by temporary events and setbacks they are just a staging point of something good of about to happen.
Always expect to bounce back.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weaknesses” as what St Paul said.
Look at the story of Esau, he forfeited his inheritance because of focusing on the temporary setbacks. He exchanged something valuable with a bowl of soup.
He loses his patience to wait. He wanted to have it fast, He wanted to have it immediately.
Many people quit when they desire to do it fast. Instant gratification.
But when their expectation is never realized, they quit.
They quit on their dreams and never dream again.
They quit their relationship and stopped loving the other person.
Don’t say you are jobless; you are just temporary unemployed.
Do not say you don’t have money; you are only temporary broke.
Don’t say you’re forever single, say you are a temporary bachelor.
Be prepared for the bounce back.
BE CONNECTED WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE
Quitting is also attributed to the kind of people you are with.
When you are surrounded by quitters definitely your chance of surrendering is more.
But when you’re in the company of people who never allows setbacks to stop their life, your chance of winning also increases.
Connect with people whom you want to be with. If you want to fly, stay with your friends who wanted to do the same. Never mingle forever with the chicken if you are an eagle as they cannot fly with you.
Remember that there are people who don’t want you to progress, people who don’t want you to grow. And if that is the attitude of people whom you are with, change the porch you are in where you can grow, where you can succeed, where you can be free doing the right thing to do, loving what you love to do.
Look for people who know what you can do and pushes you to your limit until you succeed.
Look for people who can tear the wall to bring you to Jesus.
A mentor doesn’t ask you to do what they think, they teach you to believe.
ENCOURAGE YOURSELF
When the situation is so discouraging that one bothers to encourage you, encourage yourself.
Look at the mirror and talk to yourself that you can do it.
In 1 Samuel 30:16, David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
There are so many things that can trigger you to quit but encourage yourself in God.
May you always find the courage and strength to continue.
Mikesendon
Mikesendon's Sparksofwisdom 