Before You Give Up
Wanting to quit when the going is tough is a normal human response, but it is not the response of faith. Too often we are listening to the sultry voice of self-pity instead of the stern voice of duty.
Before you decide to quit, you should consider these facts.
You have been called by the wisdom of God Who does not make mistakes. It is dangerous business to second-guess Deity. We may not think we have what it takes or that the place we are in is the right place, but God knows more than we do and He does what is right.
You are preaching God’s Word and that Word will accomplish God’s will. The minister who is not preaching His Word had better give up, because he is not accomplishing anything lasting anyway. The harvest is not the end of the meeting; it is the end of the age. We must be patient and trust God to use our ministry in His time to fulfill His purposes.
You are helping to build the Church of the living God, and that takes time. What a privilege we have to be building something lasting in a world in which so many people are busy tearing things down! Only God sees the total picture; we are at work on only one small part of the structure. Trust God to know what He is doing in and through you.
You are seeking to glorify the Son of God. God alone sees all the good we are doing, and we must serve Him by faith. Not everything in the work of the Lord can be measured, and it is especially dangerous to compare one ministry with another. Keep your motives pure. Our calling is to honor the Lord and glorify Christ, no matter what we or others may say about our work.
You are strengthened by the grace of God. That was Paul’s testimony: “But by the grace of God I am what I am” (I Cor. 15:10). His throne is a throne of grace (see Heb. 4:16), and it is always available to trusting souls who need “grace to help in time of need.” Our seeming failures and defeats only drive us closer to Him, where we can get the grace that we need.
Dr. V. Raymond Edman, for many years president of Wheaton (IL) College, used to say, “It is always too soon to quit!” Charles Spurgeon said in his quaint way, “By perseverance, the snail reached the ark.”
Both men are right! Don’t quit!
©WWW 2003, All Rights Reserved
Dr. Warren Wiersbe (1929-2019) was an internationally known Bible teacher, author, and conference speaker. He graduated in 1953 from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. While attending seminary, he was ordained as pastor of Central Baptist Church in 1951 and served until 1957. From September 1957 to 1961, Wiersbe served as Director of The Literature Division for Youth for Christ International. From 1961 to 1971 he pastored Calvary Baptist Church of Covington, Kentucky south of Cincinnati, Ohio. His sermons were broadcast as the “Calvary Hour” on a local Cincinnati radio station. From 1971 to 1978, He served as the pastor of Moody Church in Chicago 1971 to 1978. While at Moody Church he continued in radio ministry. Between August 1979 and March 1982, he wrote bi-weekly for Christianity Today as “Eutychus X”, taught practical theology classes at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and wrote the course material and taught a Doctor of Ministry course at Trinity and Dallas Seminary. In 1980 he transitioned to Back to the Bible radio broadcasting network where he worked until 1990. Dr. Wiersbe became Writer in Residence at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids and Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. In his lifetime, Dr. Wiersbe wrote over 170 books—including the popular Be series, which has sold over four million copies. Dr. Wiersbe was awarded the Gold Medallion Lifetime Achievement by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).
