Good Afternoon!
The sunshine looks great today. The snow is good to look at from afar. But...getting into the snow is not my cup of tea. I have just spent time attempting to clear my driveway of the harmless white stuff. I've only finished half of the drive and am now in recovery mode. But...the sunshine looks great!
Several times through my years as a believer I have seen people...some friends...who have gotten on fire to serve the Lord in some capacity. Some have felt God's call into some ministerial service. Some have found a place in God's church to serve the Lord in some capacity. It is always a blessing to see God use people to serve Him in some capacity. When people find out what gifts God has given to them and what passion He has given to them and then take those gifts and passions and do God's work they are effective in whatever they do. Realizing that, what they do all depends on God to get the work accomplished.
Then there are times when people who have answered God's call to serve Him...Quit! People who were at one time faithful to God in every way...Quit! People who answered God's call to be obedient to do whatever it takes to serve God...Quit! WHY? These experiences are some of the most discouraging experiences that I have ever had.
When I was fifteen years old I knew God was calling me to serve Him in some capacity. During my mid-teen years, I was in a youth group in our church in Cleveland, Ohio that was effective and growing. During those years there were five of us guys...all friends...who had answered the call by God to go into ministry. FIVE OF US! Twenty years later when I was in my thirties...I was the only one left of the five serving in ministry. The other four guys had QUIT! Some had divorced...some had quit church altogether...one became an alcoholic. They all QUIT!
Linda and I got to be good friends with a couple in one of our first churches after we married. I was on staff at that church. This couple had gotten very involved in the music program. Very involved. After we had moved on to pastor our first church...this couple...our good friends...we found out...QUIT! WHY?
Jeremiah was taking God's message to a bunch of people who had QUIT on God. God taught Jeremiah concerning the covenant that He had made with them years ago. God had given to them a new land. God had given to them a new home. God had given them an agreement, a covenant as to what He wanted for them and what He would do for them. Everyone knew God's covenant. Literally, it was something like this: "I will be your God and you will be My people!."
It was easy to understand. So God protected them and cared for them. They had more than they could have ever dreamed. BUT...for some reason...they QUIT! They thought they had discovered a better way. They created other gods for themselves. They rejected and/or ignored the covenant they had made with God...they QUIT!
Have you ever felt like quitting? Maybe you have felt discouraged and felt like you wanted to QUIT. Maybe you were relying on someone to give you the attention and when it did not happen you felt like you wanted to QUIT.
Aren't you glad Jesus did not QUIT? What if Jesus...who had been spit on, beaten, mocked, harassed, decided that He had had enough and just QUIT? Suppose He was walking one day in heaven and someone asked Him what He was doing there? He tells them that nobody appreciates Him and all He gets is grief so I QUIT! The person then asks, "What about the sacrifice on Calvary? What about the generations of people who are counting on you to make the way to get to heaven? There's a lot of people depending on You. You can't QUIT NOW!!!"
Jesus responds..."Tough! They had their chance but they didn't treat Me right!"
No...Jesus didn't act like the weak people who have QUIT down here. Jesus had a mission. He went all the way to the end of that mission and made it complete. That's the reason you and I have the opportunity to have eternal life today.
What bothers me is that there are plenty of people depending on you and me to complete our mission so they can have the opportunity to have eternal life today. That's right! God has given you a call. Your responsibility is to answer the call and complete the work He has given to you.
Jeremiah was reminded by God of His call. God told him about the covenant that had been made between God and His people. Jeremiah 11:1 says:
"This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
'Listen to the words of this covenant,
and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.'"
We are under God's New Covenant. "Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one gets to the Father except through Him." John 14:6
"For whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life!" John 3:16
We have our message.
We have our marching orders.
We have our calling.
NOW...let's go do it!
DON'T QUIT! TO QUIT IS TO FAIL!!!
May God Bless You!
Don Betts
DBEA/campus320
DBEAWINNING.COM
TO GOD BE ALL GLORY!