Fruit of the Spirit Pt. 2 - Week 6, Day 1

Day 1: Love Hangs On (Don't Give Up)

Another way we show our faithfulness is by pressing on even though we want to quit. Have you ever wanted to give up? Have you ever wanted to walk away?

In the Bible, there were a bunch of people who would have rather quit than be faithful. What do you bet Noah wanted to quit? I would have wanted to. Build an ark 4½ football fields long. Be laughed at every day for 120 years. I bet there were days he looked out the window of his house and thought, “I’m not going out there today. I am sick of this. This is too hard and too tough. I quit.”

How about Moses? He led millions of Jews out of captivity and slavery into the Promised Land. Those people complained, moaned, and groaned the whole way and blamed Moses for everything that didn’t go as planned. I would have said, “God I am sick of this. I quit!”

How about you? What are you being tempted to quit at the moment? Being faithful is hard. Quitting is always easier than enduring. It is always easier to stop and have a donut than to run another lap or stomp out of a room in anger than to stay and resolve the conflict.

When life does not turn out the way you had planned, the option of quitting will always begin to look like sweet relief. There will be days that you and I will be tempted to look out the window and just want to throw in the towel. I bet that’s how Jesus felt. He knew what was ahead. He told his disciples, “He's heading into Jerusalem and they are going to kill Him, but He’s going anyway.” In the very next verse in Matthew 16, the Bible says,
“But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Matthew 16:22-23 NLT

I wonder how many times Jesus heard Satan whisper in his ear, “People just aren’t worth it. You don’t need to take the hard road. You don’t need to die for them. You don’t need to do this. Just quit!”

Jesus had 12 legions of angels the day He was crucified surrounding Golgotha waiting for one command. “Enough! Wipe them out. They are not worth it. I quit.” But that command would never come. Instead, they would hear Jesus say, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”

Friends listen to me. Love hangs on. It doesn’t look for the easy way out. Love always perseveres, love never fails. I Corinthians 13

Time Out:

Let's take a look at a couple of other people who probably thought about giving up and giving in.

Look up Daniel 3 and read the entire chapter. I know it’s a lot to read! Answer the following questions:

If you were these three guys would you have done what they did? Be honest.

Why do you think they stood their ground and kept their word to God when no one else did? What was different about them?

Some of the most powerful verses in the Bible are found in Daniel 3:16-18. Even if God didn’t come through for them they were going to come through for God. That is faithfulness.

How did God show his faithfulness to these three young men?