Giving Up or Giving In

 

By Andrea Merrell

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. 

At just the right time

we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

Galatians 6:9 NLT

 

 

“I give up,” the man said. “This Christian life is too hard. I can’t possibly do everything that’s expected of me.”

Unfortunately, he had put unrealistic expectations on himself that were impossible to live up to. He felt like a failure. He constantly disappointed himself and believed he was letting God down in the process.

Trying to live a perfect life will wear us down and make us want to quit. But the Bible says, “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good.” Why? Because “at just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

So what exactly is the good the verse is referring to? What does God expect from us? According to Ecclesiastes 12:13, we are to “fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

God doesn’t want us to make serving Him so difficult that we get tired, frustrated, and burned out. He doesn’t want us to quit. His desire is for us to stop striving and surrender ourselves completely to Him. To love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That’s what the Christian life is all about—not in all the doing, but in being ... exactly who He created us to be.

Are you weary? Don’t give up, give in.

Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com and Zachary Ferguson.