Thus, the cross …

There’s a story I’ve heard several times about Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the famous Polish composer-pianist, who was once scheduled to perform at a great American concert hall for a high-society extravaganza. In the audience was a mother with her fidgety nine-year-old son. Weary of waiting, the boy slipped away from her side, strangely drawn to the Steinway on the stage. Without much notice from the audience, he sat down at the stool and began playing “Chopsticks.” The roar of the crowd turned to shouts as hundreds yelled, “Get that boy away from there!”

When Paderewski heard the uproar backstage, he grabbed his coat and rushed over behind the boy. Reaching around him from behind, the master began to improvise a countermelody to “Chopsticks.” As the two of them played together, Paderewski kept whispering in the boy’s ear, “Keep going. Don’t quit, son, don’t stop, don’t stop.”

Unless we have someone whispering encouragements to us — and sometimes, even in spite of someone doing so — most of us have a quit point. Most of us have a place when it comes to others, ourselves, or even God, that we quit, we’ll go no further.

QUITTING ON OTHERS
We can be quick to give up on others, especially if having someone in our lives comes with a cost or the relationship is difficult. When someone else begins to feel like a burden, we’re tempted to quit them. Even when we sometimes endure relational challenges for years or even decades, it’s not uncommon for us to still have a point at which we quit on others.

When it came to others, evangelist George Mueller didn’t have a “quit” in him. It’s told that one day Mueller began praying for five of his friends. After many months, one of them came to the Lord. Ten years later, two others were converted. It took 25 years before the fourth man was saved. Mueller persevered in prayer until his death for the fifth friend, and throughout those 52 years he never gave up hoping that he would accept Christ. His faith was rewarded, for soon after Mueller’s funeral the last one was saved.

QUITTING ON SELF
Many of the people I’ve counseled over the past few decades were about to quit on themselves, or had already done so. It is possible to quit on ourselves, even though our selfishness tends to keep us in the fight for self longer than for others. We often entertain the possibility of quitting on ourselves when discomfort or pain is introduced to the equation of life. But we’re fastest to hit a quit point when our view to the future is limited or a fear of the unknown is stoked in our minds.

Several sources have shared the story of Florence Chadwick. In 1952, Florence was the first woman to attempt to swim the 26 miles between Catalina Island and the California coastline. As she began this historical journey, she was flanked by small boats that watched for sharks and were prepared to help her if she got hurt or grew tired. Hour after hour Florence swam, but after about 15 hours a thick, heavy fog set in. Florence began to doubt her ability, and she told her mother, who was in one of the boats, that she didn’t think she could make it. She swam for one more hour before asking to be pulled out. As she sat in the boat, Florence found out she had stopped swimming just one mile from the California shoreline, her destination. Florence explained that she quit because she could no longer see the coastline, there was too much fog. She couldn’t see her goal.

Two months later, Florence got back in the water to take on the same challenge once more. This time was different. She swam from Catalina Island to the shore of California in a straight path for 26 miles. Once again, a thick fog set in, but Florence made it because she said that while she swam, she kept a mental image of the shoreline in her mind. She didn’t lose sight of the shore because she focused on that image of the coast in her mind, and in this way, she achieved her goal.

QUITTING ON GOD
Of anyone we might quit on, we can be remarkably quick to quit on God.

In the workbook I co-authored, “Discipling Christians With the Spiritual T.E.A.M.” one of the weekly challenges is to pick your favorite television show that you watch each week, then for a period of one week, when that show comes on go spend that time in prayer. Over the years, it has been interesting to see the number of Christians who have quit the challenge at that point. For them, being asked to “sacrifice” their favorite TV show for just one week in order to spend time with God was just too much to ask.

The Bible inspires us with examples of people who didn’t have a quit point with God.

Abraham didn’t have a quit point, even if it meant sacrificing his own son to obey God.

Daniel didn’t have a quit point, even if it would mean a horrific death in a lion’s den.

Stephen didn’t have a quit point, even as stones pelted the life out of him.

And Jesus didn’t have a quit point, even though there was every reason, every right, every justification for Him to quit on us. Even though He had the human temptation to quit as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before His persecution, Jesus didn’t have a quit point … thus the cross.

IS THERE A TIME TO QUIT?
Yes, two of them actually.

The first goes to the platitude we all hear often, that of “Never give up!” But sometimes we come to a realization that we’re headed in the wrong direction than God would have us go. Instead of forging ahead along the wrong path, we should quit and realign our direction with God’s leading.

Otherwise, there is a quitting time to this life, and that is the coming day when Christ relieves us from duty. Melvin Maughmer, Jr., tells the following story …

When I was in the U.S. Army, I remember we had to pull guard duty many times. The purpose of guard duty was to ensure that other soldiers, equipment, or areas were protected from the enemy. I can recall that in basic training, or boot camp, we had to memorize three General Orders and the first one was, “I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when properly relieved.”

When we were properly relieved, there was a password that was spoken between the person on guard duty and the one that was relieving them. If the improper password was given, you were not properly relieved. The safety of all that was being guarded depended upon you, the person on guard duty. If something went wrong or the enemy was able to get access into that which you were responsible for guarding, then you were held accountable and punishment was inevitable.

For Christians, we’re on duty as ambassadors for Christ in this world until Christ Himself gives us the password to relieve us. What is that password?

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.

Until the day comes that you hear that shout from Jesus Christ, don’t quit on others, don’t quit on yourself, and most certainly do not quit on God! When it comes to having a quit point, follow in the steps of Jesus; while you may be tempted to quit, persevere in the purposes of God and for His glory, even if it means facing your own cross.

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies,” 2 Corinthians 4:8-10.

“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. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne,” Hebrews 12:1-2.

Scotty