In This Issue:
Plod On!
Don’t Quit
Volume: 915 July 17, 2023
Theme: Don’t Quit
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Plod On!
Bill Brinkworth
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” I Corinthians 15:58
When younger, I spent many summers in an off-grid cabin in Maine. What an exciting place for an adventure-seeking and curious child it was.
One day, I remember hearing an unfamiliar sound of a distant chainsaw. As those tools were not common in the ’60s, I wanted to know who was sawing and where it was happening.
Trekking up a forested hill and following barely used logging roads, I found the source of the noise; it was a flannel-shirted, hardworking lumberjack.
As he cut down the towering pines and firs, he stripped the fallen trees of their branches and fetched his “helper” to pull them to where the pulp wood would be cut and stacked.
After disappearing briefly, he returned with an amazingly large workhorse. After leading the animal to the fallen trees, a couple of shouted commands got the creature to back up to the logs, where chains and a harness hitched the beast to his next timber task.
More commands were given, and the creature hauled his wood load behind him. In places, the ground was spongy with rotten debris, cedar roots, and old stumps. However, the obstacles did not hinder the trudging beast.
If one of the massive logs he lugged was snagged on an old trunk, the horse powered through the obstacle and often even pulled the stump out of the ground. The horse and his task were unstoppable, and the animal plodded on.
Sometimes the mushy ground gave way to the over 1,000-pound animal, and his hoofs sunk deep into the soft tangle of roots and branches, but still, onward he labored.
There were places the ground was harder and less cluttered with obstacles. Still, the beast lumbered on with his load at the same speed he held when on marshy, soft ground. No matter what was encountered, the “worker” consistently trudged on delivering his load. Nothing seemed to deviate him from His task.
Christians should model their service to the Saviour with the same consistent work ethic as that workhorse. There will be hindrances and obstacles while serving the Lord. Sometimes they will be occurrences in a believer’s life or even health trials. However, an obedient worker must trudge on when possible and complete the task they were convicted to do.
Preacher, if God called you to the ministry to lead and educate a flock of believers, continue at the task despite the opposition you may be facing. Plod on.
Plod: To walk or study heavily, steadily, and laboriously
Sunday school teacher, bus ministry worker, deaf interpreter, or whatever task you felt led to be involved in, keep on keeping on! Do not let criticism, ungratefulness, or even unruly children halt you from your responsibility. Plod on.
Serving the Saviour is not an easy task. Perhaps that is why so many’s efforts to serve the Lord are short-lived. There are, unfortunately, more quitters than those “plodding on” through the turbulences and trials.
If God called you to do a task for Him, continue until you are convicted and convinced He desires you to stop. Plod on!
“Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace through those difficulties.” — C. S. Lewis
Too many quit or want to resign when the going gets rough. In most cases, one never quits the problem; one just runs away. The dilemma is still there.
Deserters are everywhere:
- Husbands feel they cannot handle the burden of being a husband and father and abandon their responsibilities. Although he is distant from his family, he is still a father and husband. His running away has not changed that. The problems he ran away from usually get bigger than they originally were.
- Wives run off leaving families and husbands, however, she is still a wife and mother, just also distant from her responsibilities.
- Children sometimes do not like their parent’s rules. They, too, may run away, but they still have the same parents. They just put space between themselves and the unsolved problem that will probably haunt them for the rest of their lives unless they stay and work out the difficulty.
- Students quit school but usually spend their lives without training and education. The rest of their lives are stalled because they never learned the necessary lessons to further their lives.
- Friends quit a long-term friendship because of an argument.
- Employees quit when they do not like what is happening at the workplace.
It usually is easy to walk away from an uncomfortable situation. It does not take character, intelligence, or common sense to run away when the way gets tough.
Rarely is anything solved by quitting. There will always be problems in life. Unsolved problems have a way of following us wherever we go.
Many take their quitting lifestyle and try to apply it to their spiritual lives. Here are several reasons why one cannot quit on God:
You cannot quit being a Christian. Once a true Christian, always a Christian. You did not earn it. It was a gift of salvation if you trusted Jesus’ finished work on the cross as payment for all your sins. However, too many quit being Christ-like.
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” John 10:28-29
You cannot quit because the enemy has nothing to offer. There are only two sides – Satan’s and God’s. If one is truly saved by faith, one cannot get unsaved and be on the loser’s side.
“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13
You cannot quit because victory may be just around the corner. Troubles and tribulations are part of the school of life. You may be very close to passing the “test” and going on to life’s next lesson. Do not quit now.
“And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” II Timothy 4:18
You cannot quit when you make a mistake. Just get back in the saddle, and try again.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39
You cannot quit now; you may miss the harvest. Maybe one day your problem will be over, and you will reap a blessing from the tribulation. Maybe it will be tomorrow or the day after. Spiritual fruit does not always come the day it is planted.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” I Corinthians 15:58 Also: John 15:4.
Many times life is very difficult. If you are a Christian, you are on the winning side. Do not quit now. Victory is possible; it is a blessing when achieved, and it may be just around the corner!
“God didn’t bring you as far as He has to abandon you!” — Author Unknown