by Chris Steele

April 15, 2007

Have you ever felt like you just wanted to quit? It may have been because you grew weary of a stressful job. It might have been some ongoing service you were providing that got too involved. Maybe it was a relationship that had become strained for one reason or another. Sometimes we reach a point when we need a break. If we let this build up we may feel that we just can’t take any more.

The truth of the matter is, we all get discouraged from time to time. Everyone gets fed-up with one thing or another. Who hasn’t wanted to throw up their hands and walk away from the stress and strain of it all?

Good people throughout Bible times have felt the same way. Jeremiah wanted to quit. He was commissioned by God to preach, but the people were not taking his message seriously. They had become corrupt and disinterested in what God had to say to them. Jeremiah said, “Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them…” (Jeremiah 9:2).

There is an alternative to quitting. Jesus often retreated to quiet and deserted places to rest and refresh himself (Matthew 12:15; Mark 4:35; Luke 5:16). He encouraged his disciples to do the same. “And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat” (Mark 6:31).

Even though Jeremiah felt like quitting or running away, he did not. Quitting because of discouragement affects our service to God and others. Paul may have felt like Jeremiah at times, but he encouraged us not to “...grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (NKJV Galatians 6:9). He also emphasized a steadfastness in our efforts, “Be ye steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord…” (1 Corinthians 15:58). John stated that we must be faithful until the end in order to receive the “crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).