God never gave up on you, as you should not give up on Him or others. You never know if the day you gave up, a breakthrough was going to occur.
So these words can come off in a number of ways, the majority assuming I’m talking about sticking to your goals, pursuing your dreams, etc. but in this instance, I am talking about people. The importance of not giving up on people! I have a few routes to go on this message like not giving up on hopeless people, antagonizing people, and lastly, God so stick with me! I want to start off by saying that we should never give up, on anything because we hold so much potential but how would we know how much impact we could’ve made if we never try and flee at the first sign of difficulty? If you truly want to see a difference you will take heart in who is on your side to not grow weary and continue in your efforts to see that change !!
People who seem hopeless
To start off with my first point, don't give up on people who seem hopeless! These are the ones who we may come across and want to help even if they seem completely hopeless and that there is nothing left for them at all, that is surely not true and sets them up to fail! In life we may come across people who are complete sticks in the mud, a total Debby downer, those who see no point in trying; those are the ones who may not know who our Father is, in that case, we are called to lead them back! Sometimes we may try to help them, try to get them back up on their feet, motivate them to do good but without fail it seems as though they don’t listen and they keep going back to their usual self no matter what you do!
This should not discourage us and stop us from doing our works because surely nothing is impossible through Christ. With these people who seem to be down in life and lost, they appear to be like a dead seed who you see no progress in day after day and are almost tempted to give up on but as you keep pouring into them and watering that seed, you will see it sprout with time. You may never know that the day you decided to give up might have been the day that that person was going to have a breakthrough!! It is like this video I saw talking about how someone may ask you what’s wrong 10 times and each time you say nothing so they stop trying to get it out of you but on the 11th time you were going to tell them, I don’t know why some of us think in that way but I know it is something I mentally do because I don’t open up about my personal feelings and thoughts easily but with the persistence, it shows that they truly care and helps for me personally to let out those things tearing away at my mind!
After all, with anyone, they might be going through something mentally that keeps bringing them back to this place of misery and darkness that they are not willing to open up about but slowly with wearing them down, making it comfortable to put their walls down by showing the love and goodness of Jesus in your attempts they open up and are willing to then gain help. Many people have this perspective of, “you can bring the horse to water but you can’t make him drink,” although that may be true I feel that we should not give up on our efforts to try and get that transformation to happen. What if someone enjoyed your presence and help (may not necessarily have shown it) but you think that it is pointless to be “wasting” your time (but need I remind you that doing anything for the Lord is not a waste of time) just because you don’t see the below the surface process happening, doesn’t mean there is nothing happening and the moment you give up on them they are then left thinking to themselves, "Wow, I really am a lost cause," due to the fact no one is left to help them nor sees the point in trying to attempt. All of our actions impact people around us, whether we see it or not, and some people left abandoned may revert on their newfound hope and go back to how they started :( So with this said never give up doing the work of the Lord, God sees your efforts and what you’re trying to accomplish give it to Him, ask Him to soften their hearts and minds to be accepting, and if you get wearisome doing this work, remember that the Lord gives rest!! :)
-When we don’t give up on people it gives them hope to not give up on themselves!
persistence is key
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” -Matthew 11:28-30
2. People who seem annoying
Leading me to my next point, don’t give up on those who are annoying; those who seem to just keep antagonizing us and setting us back in plans but you can’t get rid of them! I can relate to this aspect through my garden. Recently I’ve had this problem with pests eating up all my crops, these plants I have worked so hard to grow and spent much time caring for to then be gone because out of nowhere these caterpillars just come in and eat everything, not even acknowledging all my work! In their greediness to eat everything they don’t even leave anything behind for anyone else, many of us are like this as well, at the first sign of something good, worried you may never get something like this again, you take all of it not stopping to consider those around you.
Think of it like this, have you ever been to a buffet where they serve some mean crab, and it goes super quickly because everyone knows how good it is, so you sit waiting and eyeing for a new bin of it to come out, then finally you see a person on their way to restock so you get up and start making your way over but by the time you get there there’s a guy grabbing a serving and you’re thinking, "Okay, it’s fine. I’ll still be able to get some," but it turns out when it’s your turn they took a majority of what was stocked and you are left with the skinny, short legs, the undesirable stuff! It sucks right? Orrr even this, you go all day thinking about the leftovers in the fridge and just waiting to get your hands on it and devour it but when you come home it is all gone! Isn’t that so disappointing? That is just an inside into how I felt when I discovered the caterpillars eating all of my work.
When people do not think and are not considerate of others, just greedy to have it themselves, it affects everyone around them. That is why in the Bible we are taught to be selfless and not to be greedy as greed is one of the most deadly sins. To go on about the caterpillars in my efforts to keep them away I have tried many different things, such as different sprays, pesticides, and tricks meant to repel those critters but it seems like it is not consistent in working. Where I am getting at with this is, I’ve noticed that sometimes what works for one thing, may not work for all, and in our lives, with people that seem so unbearable to be around, we have to improve and grow on our approaches to reach the unreachable. If we’ve tried getting them to stop being so annoying to us yet they keep on coming back we have to change our approach in how we talk to them, reevaluate ourselves, and how we get them to listen, as they may understand in different ways; so we have to be persistent in our efforts to pursue our Godly mission.. but this makes us think why do they keep coming back to us and us alone? What’re they trying to gain from us, what do they see in us that keeps them coming back that they can’t find in any other place?
Many times I have had it pointed out to me that I stand out from a majority of people but that is because of Christ in me. Some people have noticed that there is something different about me and say I’m so positive and happy but that is again because of the Spirit shining within me, and when people who are not very closely connected with God get a taste of His goodness and wisdom it is something they can’t get out of their mouth... it is new and intriguing making them want more, like with my plants. There are all of these trees that these caterpillars could’ve gone to, numerous places all over my backyard they could’ve gone to with hundreds of times more leaves than the ones in my garden yet they keep coming back and only eating the leaves of the plants which I carefully nurture and see to the development of. That is because there is something different about these leaves than that of the trees, the trees leaves you can get anywhere, they’re decent but gardens man you don’t come across a lot of those in the life of a caterpillar all too often so when you find something that is good and nutritious you hold on to that and get as much as you can from it.
We as the church need to be a garden that is different from the world and not your average tree you come across, keeping in mind that some people may not realize that in their efforts to grow in what is good, they are being rude and irritating. With that said, we should look at people we come across in our everyday lives that we might find a little irritating as just someone who is trying to learn and grow, we should not be rude and just give up on them but hope that by your persistence in staying true to you and trying to show them the path it is slowly making the seed inside of them grow until they can be dependent on their own, but I feel it is important to remember although you may be showing them the path and it seems like they are good on their own we should not be so quick to stop extending our hand of help because what if the moment we stop showing them the way their fire dies off?
Although they may seem annoying and constant to us, really they may be picking up things from us that they may never have known, and slowly but surely they gain all the necessary tools to be independent; just as a caterpillar keeps coming back for more, once they have eaten enough they cocoon and turn into a beautiful butterfly, so we must be persistent in order to see a transformation.
Don’t push away people who may seem irritating but instead embrace them and show them love and kindness of Jesus Christ
"Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing," -1 Peter 3:9
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another," -Zechariah 7:9
3. God
Lastly, my final point to make is not to give up on our God! If anything, our God never gives up on us so why should we do that to Him? Nevertheless, many of us still like to give up on God, but why? They like to make the argument of, "If God is real then why are these bad things happening, why is He letting me suffer?" But that mindset is not the right mindset, we cannot forget that evil is also in this world which gets in the way of our walk because the devil does not want to see us succeed, he wants to bring anyone and everyone down with him. Since we are flesh, we are bound to fleshly things but with God, on our side, he gets us through whatever time we are going through. So although things happen, God doesn’t abandon us at the first sign of a storm as we should not do to him, God works in His timing alone so if things don’t happen exactly when you want, don’t give up on God but take heart in His promises, knowing that He is already going before you, fighting your battles, and giving you peace through it all so try and find the message He is getting you to learn in this time.
We see this in Judges. God never gives up on Gideon while Gideon was always so doubtful and questioning God, he doubted his own strength and confidence, yet we see again and again God prevailing and showing himself true to Gideon. Then to prove an even bigger point, God shows that their strength is not in numbers to defeat your enemy, but in Him alone, because we see that Gideon had over 20,000 soldiers to defeat an army as thick as locusts, yet God told Gideon to only bring 300. And you know what happened? Gideon came out victorious and untouched because the Lord was on his side. God is so much bigger than your fears, doubts, and pains.
I like to remember the scripture, 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” meaning that every weakness we have is an opportunity for God to show us His strength!! Although He does not make these bad things happen to you, He is a faithful God and will carry us through these times, for He does not call the prepared but prepares the called. So things may not always be the happiest because evil also exists in this world, but no need to fret for God has already gone ahead of us to fight our battles, and continually give us continual strength and peace in our everyday lives! Just think, WHAT IF THE DAY YOU GIVE UP YOU WOULDVE HAD A BREAKTHROUGH WITH GOD?
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you," -Deuteronomy 31:6
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose," -Romans 8:28
I just want to encourage everyone to not give up in their fight and especially not in people. There is a spiritual warfare going on that we can’t see, it may start to bring us down but that is why we have to surround ourselves with people who believe in us and who will not give up on us because they see the potential in us and are willing to fight until it is uncovered. Many times I hear how nowadays people look at this generation, this newer era of kids, and think, "Wow, these kids are hopeless," they think the worst of what could happen with them in charge, but not many necessarily do anything to change that! They see no point in trying, and just give up on them, but that is not how we should be.
As a church we should be persistent in our efforts to reach the lost and those who seem unreachable, those who seem so stubborn in their ways that they would never change may surprise you if you just keep turning the soil! As kids who are learning and are set up to do a task where the authoritative figure in our lives don’t believe in us, it automatically sets us up for poor performance, whereas, when we’re in an environment that is pushing for our success because they see that potential and believe in us, it gives much better results in how we perform because we then believe in ourselves and think that we can do it, due to someone finding that hope in us first, it impacts our own morale and attitude toward what is at hand. So don’t give up in the lost, for they just need the right person, the right teacher to come along and explain it in a way that makes sense to them and sets off that lightbulb moment.. and overall never give up on God for he works in His timing and He can do the unthinkable!!
Comments