Quitting or re-orientating

It is always too soon to quit,” says George Sweeting. In his years as president of Moody Bible Institute, the campus established by Dwight L. Moody more than a century ago, he saw hundreds of students filled with grit and determination, but rebuffed by failure, decided to give up and try something easier.

The reality is that practically nobody succeeds without rebuff, without failure, without a measure of discouragement. A study of those whose biographies are written in the pages of Scripture is a study of human failure.

Jonah, of course, turned his back to God and went the opposite direction, yet after his bout with the fish, he repented of wrongdoing and headed for Nineveh where he should have gone initially.

John Mark, traveling with Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey, got homesick, gave up and quit. But stubbing his toe spiritually – giving in to his homesickness – didn’t destroy him. He overcame, and eventually wrote the second Gospel, the one that bears his name.

So what’s the bottom line of all of this? God is the God of the second chance, the one who does forgive, the God “who remembers our frame, that we are dust” as the psalmist put it.

So have you stubbed your toe and fallen? Get up, ask God for forgiveness, and realize that the God of the second chance, and the third chance, and the next chance will give you strength and help. Failure doesn’t have to be fatal.

A final thought: There are some failures which take you out of the game. If your heart is grieved by your failure, you’re not completely out of the game. Learn from your mistake. Get up and start moving in the right direction. It’s too soon to quit. George Sweeting is right.

Used with permission from Guidelines International Ministries. To learn more about Guidelines and the ministry, send an e-mail to info@guidelines.org. You may also visit www.guidelines.org.