God Never Gives Up

 

 

My nourishment comes from doing the will of God… and from finishing His work.

 

John 4:34

 

 

 

Once, while Francis of Assisi was hoeing his garden, he was asked, "What would you do if you were suddenly told you'd die at sunset today?" He replied, "I'd finish hoeing my garden." Our perseverance doesn't change God—it changes us.

 

If we're willing to continue—even when we feel like quitting—we'll learn lessons of compassion, understanding, and dependability.

 

Jesus is our ultimate example of not quitting… even as a child of 12, He reminded His distraught parents, "Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house? (Luke 2:49).

 

Later, during His public ministry, He told His disciples, "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God… and from finishing His work" (John 4:34).

 

Even when Jesus was dying, He rejected the challenge of the crowd: "Save yourself, and come down from the cross!" (Mark 15:30).

 

It is so human to let go and quit when under fire. However, it is divine to hang in there. At the end of His ordeal, Jesus said, "'It is finished!' Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit" (John 19:30).

 

We sometimes let go and give in—quitting—when what God has for us is to persevere and receive the blessing He has before us even when we feel unworthy and not fit for what has always been ours, if we would only by faith receive.