Don’t quit! How many times have we heard or spoken those words? As a child I grew up in a brand of fundamentalism that truly preached that mantra on a regular basis - DON’T QUIT! I remember thinking at that time, “I will never quit because I don’t want to be a quitter.” I also mistakenly thought “I don’t want to be an illustration of some preacher one day saying, ‘Well I knew a Christian (me) who used to serve the Lord but then they QUIT!’”
Now mind you I don’t want to quit, but there is something bigger and more important that not quitting - that is TO KEEP GOING!
Some might ask is there a difference? Well let’s look at scripture and see.
For starters the Bible actually says that to “quit” is positive as in 1 Samuel 4:9 and 1 Corinthians 16:13. Both verses say to “quit like men.” The idea here is not just to keep from stopping but but to keep from fainting and finish your task. In these verses, God says that men (humankind) are not supposed to give up easily but stay the course. In 1 Samuel 4:9 the Philistines were told to “quit yourselves like men” - the Hebrew word is “haya" or to be committed to something and stay with it. In 1 Corinthians 16:13 Paul write to the believers in Corinth and tells them to “quit you like men, be strong.” Here the word “quit” is “andrizomai” which means to show yourself as brave and keep going, thus the added phrase “be strong.” God is not just saying don’t stop, He means to KEEP GOING! We have come to think of “quit” as a negative thing because now a days its means to completely stop doing something, but God’s definition of the word is completely different.
Secondly, we must realize that God understands the need for rest. Remember God made the world in six days and then did what on the seventh day? He rested (Genesis 2:2). Was it because He was tired? Of course not! God is all powerful and nothing tires or wearies the Lord (Matthew 28:18). He “rested” as an example for us to know that we will sometimes need to take a breather. Look at Mark 6:31 where Jesus says to His disciples, “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.” Unfortunately there are those who think that when a Christian servant steps back from a ministry for a short period of time that they are “quitting” and in some cases that is sadly true. But there are also times when a pastor, missionary, or even a laymen must step back…not to quit…but to strength themselves to keep going.
Lastly, God knows we get discouraged and disheartened but He wants to enable us to keep going, not just stop serving Him and others. One of the saddest verses in all scripture is John 6:66 which says “…his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” It wasn’t that they stopped but they went back! They gave up on what they were supposed to be doing. They did not keep going. A fiend of mine in the ministry years ago said that he tried to do more for the Lord each day than the day before. It sounds like a wonderful goal and should be the motivation of our heart to serve the Lord better each day, but in his case it caused a physical breakdown and was laid up in bed for nearly four weeks because was working for the Lord over 20 hours a day and his body and emotions couldn’t take it. He shut down and therefore could literally do nothing for the Lord. Now mind you, I am not saying to be a lazy bum and use “burn out” as an excuse as the Lord clearly says we are to renew through His strength so as not to “quit” (Isaiah 40:31).
We have been given a course by God (2 Timothy 4:7) and we must not “quit” until we are done. However we are to “quit like men” and stay the course even if it means taking a break to recover. But whatever we do…KEEP GOING!
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