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.

There's No App for That

 

By Andrea Merrell

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

2 Peter 1:3 NKJV

Why is the Christian life so hard? someone posted on Facebook. There should be an app to make it easier.

I didn’t reply but wanted to say, “Sorry, sweetheart (hear the sarcasm?), there’s no app for that.

We have iPhones, iPads, and iPods but no iFaith. We have email, evites, and ebooks but no ePrayers.

Learning, maturing in our faith, and growing close to God is a process, not an event. A marathon, not a sprint. We're told, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12 KJV). Another translation says, “Be even more careful to do the good things that result from being saved, obeying God with deep reverence and shrinking back from all that might displease Him” (TLB).

I’ve always heard that nothing worth having comes easy. As they say, no pain, no gain. There are limitless resources online that will help us, but nothing we can do—especially by staring at our electronic devices all day—can replace quality time spent with the Lord in prayer and in His Word.

As His child, God has given us “all thing that pertain to life and godliness,” and those things cannot be found in the cyber world.

Draw close to God. Make spending time with Him a priority. Give Him your all, and watch what He will do in your life. There’s no better way to live. And there’s no app for that. Just His love, mercy, and grace.

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

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Living the Christian life means spending quality time with God in prayer and in His Word. There's no app for that. via @AndreaMerrell (Click to tweet.)

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