Weekly Devotional

DO NOT GIVE UP

    
A man who was growing weary in his ministry had a dream.  He saw himself pounding away at a huge chunk of granite with a pickaxe.  It was his job to break it into small pieces. But hard as he tried, he couldn’t chip off even a tiny piece! At last, tired and disappointed, he decided to give up. Just then, a stranger appeared and said, “Weren’t you given orders to do that work? “Your duty is to give it your best regardless of what happens.” The man, with renewed determination, lifted that pickaxe high in the air and gave that granite a crushing blow. It broke into thousands of pieces. He had almost quit one blow too soon. The Lord wants us to keep working on our God-given task, no matter how difficult it might be. Even when success seems remote and impossible, we are to remain steadfast, assured that there will be an ample reward for those who persevere. Have you grown tired in your service for God? Have you become so discouraged that you’re tempted to throw in the towel? Then let’s remember that man’s dream. Better still, let’s remember God’s promise spoken by Paul: 1 Corinthians 15:58:  ⁵⁸” Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."  Failure is not defeat unless we give up.

-F