DON’T GIVE UP

At the time of this writing, I have been hosting the Recovering Faith podcast and blog for over two years now, and to be honest, there have been times when I’ve had my doubts about whether I should continue, and I have seriously considered giving up. Writing a weekly blog and hosting a weekly podcast is a lot of work, requires a huge commitment of time and energy, and it costs me money rather than making money, and there have been a lot of times when I have written a blog and recorded a podcast when I didn’t feel like it just so I could say that I have never missed a week. I can no longer say that I have never missed a week as I have now missed two, one when I went on vacation and one last week when I had some significant technical difficulties after moving my office. As far as the money goes, I have never intended to make money on my podcast and blog, and I still don’t, but I have often wondered if I am even making a difference. After all, since making a difference in people’s lives is why I am putting all of this effort into this project in the first place, if I am not making a difference in anyone’s life than I am just wasting my time and money.

I have determined that, for whatever reason, God wants me to continue with this podcast and blog as every time I consider quitting I receive an email telling me how one of my podcast episodes has impacted them, or someone comments on one of my posts and lets me know that my words have touched them, and whenever that happens it makes me realize that I have made a difference, in at least one person’s life, and if I make a difference in at least one person’s life than it is all worth it, all of it.

With that said, not all of my blog posts or podcast episodes will personally impact someone, but continuing on a schedule keeps my content higher in the search engine algorithms and that makes it easier for those who are searching to actually find what I write and say.

Whenever anyone sends me a private message I make sure that it remains private and don’t share their information publicly but rather respond to their message with as much grace, compassion and knowledge as I possess, however, when someone leaves a public comment on one of my posts I feel like it is ok to share it since it is already public. One such comment was on an older post called “What is Grace and Why Do We Need It?”

Awesome reading. Brought my level of gratefulness, compassion, empathy, love and Thanksgivings to another level! I want to work on my awareness of how much God sacrificed for us to receive his grace. I forget that sometimes. I pray for wisdom to become aware when my own selfcenteredness blinds me from realizing at what price was paid for my salvation Randy, Nazareth, PA.

I really appreciate it when people reach out to me, not because it in any way stokes my ego, but because it lets me know that I am doing a good thing and that my efforts are actually helping people, at least in some small way. I often think of a story I read once in which a little screw in a clock believed his job was utterly unimportant and therefore he was not respected or needed and decided to work himself loose, and when he did the spring unwound and the clock stopped working. Everyone has an important role to play, though it may not always be obvious.

I think there are a lot of people who have given up just before their big break or just before they had an impact, never knowing what they could have accomplished had they continued. There are also notable examples of people who held strong in the face of opposition and failure, with amazing results. The Grand Canyon was carved out by the Colorado River, not in a day or even a lifetime, but many, many years.

At this point in time where Christians are being openly persecuted and are told they are not allowed to peaceably assemble - a right which is guaranteed by the constitution - and being threatened with fines by tyrannical governors or physically assaulted by angry mobs, it would be easy to give in and give up, but nothing great ever came from giving up and if Christians give up the fight for morality and for what is right than there is no reason for them to even call themselves Christians. All that is required for evil to triumph is for good to do nothing.

It would have been easy for Paul to give up after all he suffered, but he endured through it all, even knowing it would cost him his life. Paul gave up everything for the sake of the gospel and suffered greatly as a result, but he considered it to be a great honor to do so, as did the other apostles.

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
-2 Corinthians 11: 21-28

The Bible has a lot of verses about not giving up, and listed below are just a few of them:

Galatians 6:9

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

James 1:12

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Philippians 4:13

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Hebrews 12:11

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Colossians 3:23-24

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

The reason I decided to write this week’s blog on this subject is because of how tempted I was to give up, until I received a message and two random phone calls, one from someone I had not talked to in a long time, and one from a complete stranger. I may not have all of the answers, and I know full well that I don’t, but I do know that I am able to help those in my sphere of influence, and that is enough.

Gene CurlJuly 8, 20202 Comments