I'm tired, I can't cope, I'm not doing this again, the stress is too much. How will I be going to church for service, and even after service is over, I'll stay back to sweep and keep the church in order. When I get home, I will pray, give alms, I'll sing, I'll do good, yet no increase, nothing is working for me, things aren't moving forward in my life, I can't take it anymore, in short I QUIT!, I can't do this anymore.
Those were the words of Chioma, A devout Christian that was passing through trying times in her life, she was struggling with challenges and also putting her best into the work of God but since(according to her thoughts), she wasn't seeing results in her Service to God, she quit and decided to go and look for other alternatives to make her life better.
Here is the irony
In God's timing, He had decided to bless Chioma and turn her life around the next week if she PERSEVERED and kept serving him despite her her pains, but guess what?
CHIOMA QUIT SERVING GOD A WEEK BEFORE HER BREAKTHROUGH
What is the lesson in the above story?
•Situations might be tough for you, Keep working for God
•You may cry at night, Keep working for God
•It may not be convenient for you, Just keep working for God.
You know why?
He knows what you're going through, he knows the challenges, the tears, the pains, the delayed gratifications, the persecution you might have gone through but the Bible says in the book of Galatians 6:9 "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not"
Perseverance brings rewards at the end of the long run.
Take for instance, a 1,500 mile race
with 12 athletes participating. The race kicks off with the 12 athletes energetic and confident but after running for 500miles,6 athletes become weary and stop running, leaving 6 athlete's to continue the race. Despite the weakness the remaining 6 keep running but upon reaching 1,000 miles, 3 stop running because they feel that they would faint if they keep running till the end. 3 athlete's continue running, enduring the pain, tiredness and stress, but at the 1,200th mile, 1 athlete drops out for fear that he might collapse. Leaving 2 athletes to finish the race, 1 stops at the 1,400th mile but 1 kept going, he kept pushing, he kept running till the end and eventually, he crossed the finish line and won the race. 12 started, 1 finished that is why Matthew 22:14 tells us that "Many are called but few are chosen"
Let me bring to your notice, something you missed. What is it that I miss?, You ask. Here is the answer.
12 athletes started the race with the hope of winning, they were running with the consciousness that at the end, they will be rewarded if they persevere but unfortunately, due to lack of perseverance, discomforts, and all, only 1 ran to the end. This is worse in the lives of Christians nowadays because we serve God forgetting the fact that we will be rewarded and as such, Christians tend to grumble and complain when it seems that all their efforts towards the work of God aren't producing results.
As Christians, it may be tough in the beginning, but the truth and the fact that we must always bear in mind is that the blessings from God that lie ahead are greater than we expect and will make us forget the pain that we passed through during our perseverance and make us appreciate the fact that we waited and had unwavering faith in God. Finally, Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, Saith the Lord, thoughts of Peace, and not of evil to give you an expected end"
Let us determine to persevere and serve God till the end because "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof" Ecclesiastes 7:8
BE THAT ATHLETE THAT RAN TILL THE END
(all images are from pixabay)