Don’t Give Up

by

Pastor B.J. Knefley

Life takes many twists and turns. Careers, relationships, and events have a habit of changing the direction of our life. Our plans can be foiled by the actions of others or our own. As hard as we might try, our life can easily get misdirected and off course. We can find ourselves in a place that we wonder how we ever got there. Some just call it life and as much as we plan and prepare, it happens.

The writer of Hebrews states, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)

Having goals and direction is very important. But we can be so easily sidetracked by things in the moment. Not only do we get sidetracked, but we often just give up. At the beginning of a new year many plan to do things differently. Perhaps they set goals and objectives only to find a few months into the New Year that they’ve already missed the mark. But rather than get back up and start again, they give up.

I was watching a college track meet and during the heat of the race one of the runners fell. One would think that this fall would have eliminated her from placing in the top three positions, but she didn’t. In fact, not only did she place in the top three, but she also won the race. In an interview later, the runner stated that she had her eye on the finish line and when she fell, she stayed upon that goal. Many would have been so discouraged by the fall that they would have given up, but she did not. She didn’t allow a setback to make her give up.

The key in life is not possessing the goal, but rather not giving up in our pursuit of it. If you’ve been sidelined because of an event, Don’t Give Up, get back up and start out again. Think about it.