Tag Archives: don't quit

Don’t Walk Away Yet

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Have you ever been at a point in your life where you think it’s time to walk away? You feel like God is done with the part of your life and it’s time to move on.

Many of us have times like this, and it’s hard to know if we’re supposed to stick it out or if it’s time to move on. We’ve been at both places during different times of our lives. We’ve had times where we needed to stick it out and times when it was right for us to walk away. There’s some encouragement found for us in the small book of Esther about not walking away quite yet.

Esther Study

I just finished reading the book of Esther. Esther is always a fascinating study. If you’re interested in the book of Esther, The Daily Grace Co. has a great Esther study that I’ve done and loved. There are so many great takeaways from the book of Esther. One that has stayed with me comes from chapter four.

Esther learns about the plot by evil Haman to destroy the Jews. Mordecai comes to her and tells her what she needs to do. She needs to go before the king and ask him to save their people. This is where her famous reply comes into play.

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”

Esther 4:15,16

God Will Find Someone to Work Through

But right before these infamous verses, Mordecai says something so interesting. I’ve read it before, but it caught and held my attention this time. He says this to Esther:

Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

Esther 4:13,14

We know these verses well. There are movies and books based on the phrase, “for just a time as this.” But I want to draw our attention to the phrase before that. Mordecai says these words, “If you keep quiet, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise form some other place.”

Mordecai essentially was saying, “You can sit back and do nothing, and God will still find a way to work. He will work with or without you.” Now, there will be consequences. He tells her that she and her relatives will most likely die. But he says she doesn’t have to do this; if she chooses not to, God will find somebody else.

Don’t Let God Use Somebody Else

This is such a powerful thought that I think so many of us forget. We do have a free will. God will never force us to do anything. We don’t have to do what God has for us, but if we don’t, God will use somebody else. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want God to use somebody else. I want Him to use me. I want to be a part of the great things He has in store for my family, my kids, my church family, my neighbors, and those people I haven’t even met yet.

I think about our church. I don’t have to stay faithful. I can give up and move on. But with that, I have to remember that God will still work. He will work in our church family with or without me. I can choose to be apart of it and let God use me, or I can walk away and let Him use somebody else. But I haven’t put in fifteen years to walk away now and let God use somebody else. So, we stay and we continue to allow God to work and use us.

Don’t Walk Away Just Yet

What do you have in your life that you’re considering walking away from? You can. You have the right to. But what will you miss out on if you walk away now? Who else will God use if He can no longer use you? I don’t want God to use someone else. I want Him to use me, and I want Him to use you. So, let’s choose today to stay faithful, to stick it out, to not give up on what God is doing. Who knows? Your breakthrough might be just around the corner, and you will miss out on all God has in store if you walk away now.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement, check out my post, Don’t Give Up on the Dream God Has Given You. A great book to read is Breakthrough: Transforming the Death of a Dream to the Birth of a Breakthrough.

It’s Not How You Start, It’s How You Finish

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We spent a few hours yesterday at a track meet for one of the girls from our church. We had a great time cheering her and her teammates on. There were competitors from four different schools. Some of them would fly around the track; others would struggle and fall a lap or two behind. But they all had one thing in common. They all finished the race. Not a single competitor didn’t cross the finish line.

race track near the finish line

Finish the Race

No matter what position they came in, no matter how far behind they were, they always finished. Sometimes it would be a sole competitor running an entire lap by themself because everybody else had already crossed the finish line. And yet, when those stragglers came into view, every person–whether in the stands or runners on the field–would start cheering for them as if they were going to win the race. It was pretty amazing. Teammates and opposing teams alike would stand on the sidelines and clap and cheer them on to the finish line.

Why? Why would they do that? Even when they were dead last? Because they finished. Each runner out there and every parent in the stands knows how much hard work goes into training and then running out there and giving it your all. So when each player simply finished the race, it was like they received a standing ovation.

It’s How You Finish that Counts

There’s a powerful lesson to be learned here. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish or that you finish at all. It’s the same in the Christian race; it’s not how you start, it’s not the stumbles and falls you had along the way, it’s how you finish the race that counts.

Paul understood this principle. He often spoke of the Christian life as a race, and he was proud of the way he had run his race. He stayed faithful and finished his race, and he would receive the rewards for that.

As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.  And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.

II Timothy 4:6-8

Handicaps for Racing

There was another thing I noticed sitting there yesterday. Some runners seemed to have an unfair advantage. They were tall with lean bodies and long legs that ate up the track. Then there were others that were much shorter and had to work even harder to run as fast. They seemed to take two strides for every one stride the taller athletes took. And yet, they weren’t given any special help or conditions. They had to run just like everybody else, and they had to finish. Some of them even beat out the taller, longer legged runners.

Sometimes, we are given handicaps along our race; handicaps that make it harder for us to run. Those around us may be running just fine, but our handicap is slowing us down. Those handicaps may come in the form of financial struggles, health problems, chronic pain, addictions, mental health struggles, infertility, single-hood, divorce, loss of a loved one…the list goes on and on. And yet, in spite of those handicaps, we still have a race to run; we have to still finish.

Running with Endurance

Paul tells us what we have to do. We have to get rid of the weights that slow us down and the sins that trip us up and then run with endurance, no matter what handicaps we have.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 

Hebrews 12:1

It seems like an impossible task–running this race of life with handicaps and still expected to finish. How do we do it? How do we find that endurance when life is so hard at times? Paul didn’t leave us without an answer. It comes in the next verse.

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 

Hebrews 12:2

Focusing on Jesus

We run with endurance, handicaps and all, by keeping our focus on Jesus and remembering that He gave everything, so that we could have eternal life. As we run, we focus on the fact that one day, we will see him face to face.

We also run with endurance by remembering the cloud of witnesses in heaven, looking down on us. They are those who have run their race ahead of ours and have finished. Now they watch us run ours, and are cheering from the grand stands of Heaven.

Finish Your Race

You may feel tired today; you may feel like your handicaps have cost you the race. Or maybe sin and its destruction has kept you from even running. It’s not too late. Paul gives us these encouraging words.

So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

Hebrews 12:12,13

It’s time to get back in the race today. If you’re already in the race, this is your encouragement to keep going. Keep running towards Jesus; keep your eyes on the prize. Stay faithful. Remember that it’s not how you start the race, it’s how you finish.

One day, we will finish our race. We will stand before God and give account of our lives. Will we face God with regret? Or with joy, knowing we ran the race He gave us and we didn’t give up. We finished.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement, check out my post, The One Guarantee if You Quit.



Don’t Run When the Pruning Starts

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pruning a tree

There’s an orchard in Lancaster, PA that we love visiting multiple times throughout the year. We pick apples, peaches, and strawberries there. I saw a post from them this week about the pruning they are doing on their peach trees. It reminded me of how God works with us.

Pruning and training early in the life of the tree will help establish the desired form of the tree and make future pruning and maintenance less complicated. The rewards of proper pruning and training are abundant yields of high-quality fruit that are easily harvested.

Cherry Hill Orchards
Pruning at Cherry Hill Orchards

The Pruning Process

When I read this post, it made me think of how God prunes us. I feel like this is exactly how God has worked in our personal life and ministry. The pruning in the early years of ministry really changed us and molded us and prepared us for the kind of ministry God wanted us to have.

Pruning isn’t fun. It’s often painful, but it’s how God prepares our hearts and changes us into the person he wants us to be. He does it so that we can actually produce more fruit.

He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 

John 15:2 NLT

How God Prunes Us

The most common way that God prunes us is through testing and trials. He allows things into our lives to begin this work in our lives.

What I’ve seen time and time again over the years is that people run when God starts the pruning process. They get scared and take off instead of staying. They leave a ministry, a job, a relationship, a career, a church. God starts squeezing and putting the pressure on, and people get scared and run.

What Happens When You Run

There’s one thing I’ve learned about God’s pruning. If you run, the process will simply start again at another time. You may escape it for now, but then the testing and trials will start again in a different form.

The best thing we can choose to do is to stay in it. Stay in the pruning, the testing, the struggle. Don’t give up. Don’t run, even though it feels like everything inside of you is telling you to run. Stay still; allow God to work. Allow him to change and mold and shape you into who he wants you to be.

If we don’t run, if we don’t give up during the testing, we will produce fruit.

Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing

John 15:5

Choose to stick with it; don’t run during the pruning process. If we stay faithful, we will get to see what it looks like when God uses us to produce fruit.

For More Encouragement

For more on this topic, check out a great video by the Skit Guys called The Chisel. It’s all about this process of pruning that God takes us through. Or read my post Peach Picking and Sticking With It.