WHY WE NEVER GIVE UP

The sturdiness of a believer is not to be gauged by whether we attend a church. Authentic strength is found in whether our lives are marked by a determined endurance; a power-wash love for all people around us.  I speak not of an overmydeadbody bullishness, either.  Rather, the question revolves around the strategy of Jesus in that he would not give up his plan to win the whole world.

Jesus presented an entirely off-the-wall religion; one that believed that what wasn't yet could become and even possessed a certainty that the dead could again live.  The goal of Jesus was to see that he paid the price for our delinquency.  His resurrection says that all is well in the Home Office.

Because he never gave up on us, we are to follow pattern and never give up on others. This would change the church if we will grow to be more like him.  And if such would change the church we, in turn, would change the world.  Churches complain that the world is a mess.  Yes it is.  And much of it may be because churches have grown to become self-serving rather than self-dying that others could live.

Everyone is looking for hope.  It is found in a people who never give up.  Might we overcome being so touchy about personal injury and insult?  Might we believe in the value of people...including any who might sarcastically or ignorantly or intentionally give us a hard time?  We have been called to do for even our enemies what Jesus did for us when we were regarded as his enemies.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6-8).

Maybe, just maybe, the people who bug us the most are in our midst to test (and increase) our endurance factor.  I know this is true for where we live today because such has always been the mark of the godly since that big day on Calvary.  May we be focused to encourage the whole world.  Never give up...on anyone.  He didn't....and aren't we glad about that?