I Quit!
Dan Kunz
Have you ever felt like Atlas, the Titan from Greek mythology who was forced to spend eternity holding up the world? Do you feel that way right now?
It doesn’t matter whether it’s COVID-19, racial strife, growing crime rates, an uncertain economy, political animosity, increasing secularism and decreasing spirituality, or any of a dozen other issues in our world today. It doesn’t matter whether it’s family turmoil, unemployment, drug or alcohol addiction, loss of a loved one, poor health, betrayal by a friend, or a dozen other personal issues. Sometimes life is too much!
We want to scream. We want to run away. We want to hit something (or someone). We just want to quit! The Apostle Paul certainly knew how we feel. A careful look at his life shows a man who must have felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders from time to time. The world in which he lived was hostile toward the Gospel. The church in which he grew up, for the most part, didn’t accept Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. Although most of the people with whom he lived and worked remained faithful to the message, not all did. He suffered shipwreck three times, a stoning, several beatings, imprisonment, and his own “thorn in the flesh”. For varying lengths of time, he was not able to travel freely and share the Good News of Salvation as he wished. Yet, Paul was able to endure it all. How? The book of Hebrews, which many people believe was either written by Paul, or one of his followers, spells it out - Hebrews 12:3 Carefully consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinful people, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart.
Here is the secret to our endurance. Whenever we grow weary and are tempted to lose heart, carefully consider what Jesus endured. As a Christian, you’ve heard or read from the New Testament hundreds, perhaps thousands of times. Go back again. Look specifically at the hostility that Jesus endured. It wasn’t just during his Passion. It happened again and again throughout his public ministry. What makes his endurance even more amazing is who he is and who his tormentors were. Jesus is the Son of Almighty God! He chose to become fully human. He lived a perfect life. He didn’t deserve even a thimbleful of the hostility directed at him. And at whose hands? Sinful human beings. The created berating The Creator!
Why would he possibly endure that? How could he possibly endure that? The “why” is love and the “how” is focus, focus on the end result. Because God, the Father, loves us, he sent his Son to pay the price of sin for us. Because Jesus loved the Father and us, he willing agreed to carry out the mission.
When we grow weary and are tempted to lose heart, remember that Jesus was also weary, but didn’t lose heart. He endured to the end because of us. He endured because he knew the end result – our salvation. We, too, can endure because we, too, know the end result – our salvation. As bad as this world and ours lives may be from time to time, this world and our lives will be replaced by a glorious one, one in which we will not grow weary and one which will last forever! Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly!