Never Give Up

Joshua 24:15 “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”

On October 29, 1941, the Prime Minister of England, Winston Churchill, was invited to give a speech at the Harrow School, a high-school level boarding school for boys in London. England had just survived 10 months of bombings by the Nazi German air force. There was massive damage and loss of life. The United States was not in the war yet and wouldn’t be until December 7th. France had already fallen to the Nazi forces and so had most of Europe. England was standing alone. Churchill delivered what became known as the “Never Give Up” speech. It was brief and to the point. He exhorted the boys to never, never give up. It didn’t matter how bleak the present and future looked, it didn’t matter what had happened in the past. His command, not just advice, was to never quit, never give up. If you want to hear that speech, it is available out on the Internet.

While that speech is famous and widely remembered, quoted often by motivational speakers and sales leaders, it is just a speech. Throughout the Bible, there are numerous examples of others who faced adversity and just kept faith with God and didn’t quit. When King Saul was pursuing David, trying to kill him, David endured many hardships and dangers, confident that God was leading him and preparing him for his future as king. When Job was enduring his losses and afflictions, having to listen to the ridicule and condemnation of his friends, he continued to trust in God, he kept the faith, he didn’t quit. In the New Testament, we see the Apostles striking out to carry the message of Jesus Christ, knowing that both the Jews and the Romans would try to stop them. The price they paid was heavy; only one escaped martyrdom. They didn’t stop, they didn’t quit, they never gave up on the charge that Jesus had given them to preach his word to all the nations.

Being a Christian today is not easy. It is easy to become one, a declaration of faith and belief, a baptism, and now you are one. Really? You might have a piece of paper that says so and your face can be seen sometimes or often on Sunday in the church of your choice. There is so much more to being a Christian than that. The world around you is full of temptation and the opportunity to steal the gift that God has given you. Like Job, you may have to put up with friends and others who don’t know and can’t understand why you want to be a Christian and forsake the other side of life; that other side being composed of the world, the flesh and the devil. You will be challenged to explain how you can possibly believe in a belief system that relies on a Being whom no one has ever seen. You will be told to “prove” that God exists, that Jesus lived and died for us. You may have to turn your back on family, friends, and co-workers to continue on. It would be so much easier to cave in, to give up, especially if the cost seems too high or too hard to bear. You can’t do it alone; you have to have help, just as all of the believers who have come before you and those who will follow your example in the future have to rely on help, God’s help.

The exterior world is going to come after you and try to turn you away from God. That is a given. How about your interior world? What is your self-talk? What does it sound like? What temptations are sneaking in past your defenses, trying to find a chink in your armor? Are you dealing with a large loss, like the illness of a parent or child? Are you asking God why and getting silence for an answer? Have you been faced with the death of a marriage or the loss of a job, and you are getting nothing but silence from God when you go to him? It is easy to tell yourself that God has quit on you so you are going to quit on God. It is easy to turn and walk away from the true source of strength that will help you through whatever you are dealing with. Your non-believing friends will certainly understand and approve. They will just tell you how right they were all along and how you can just drop all of the foolishness.

What say you? What are you going to do? Are you going to stand with God? Are you going to follow your charge to be an apostle and carry Jesus’ words to all of the nations, not necessarily as a missionary but with your words and actions? Are you going to follow Churchill’s command to never, never, never give up? Will you make Joshua’s declaration a permanent part of your life? It will never be easy, but the rewards for your faithfulness are eternal.