Don't Quit

As many of you know I struggle with Post Traumatic Stress from my time in the military and the Iraqi war. I take part in a Veteran’s Therapy Program called Prolonged Exposure. It’s insanely intense. I am coached by a counselor who forces me to relive every traumatic experience over and over and over again. The thought is that thru prolonged exposure to the experiences, I will become desensitized and have fewer nightmares, less anxiety, and fewer tendencies to become depressed. One thing my psychologist told me when we first began is that many veterans quit before they complete the therapy. At first the sessions are so intense that things will get worse before they get better. But if you will hang in there and not quit, the end result will be worth the effort. So I was encouraged to not give up – Don’t quit.

So far I'm hanging in there - and BTW the therapy is working for me. But what I want to talk about today is not PTSD but "not quitting".

Sometimes I have to deal with frustrations and disappointments on a daily - sometimes hourly - basis. And at times, I'll just admit that the obstacles seem overwhelming and insurrmountable. But I've found out that what I may see as an obstacle God sees as an opportunity. Therefore, I can’t give up. Church people can be some of the meanest, nastiest, most hateful people in the world. And not just the members, other pastors and church leaders can be that way as well. If your church begins to grow, they attack. If you stop singing from the hymnals and go to praise songs, they attack. If you get rid of the organ and fire up a rocking band, they attack. But we can’t give up. God didn’t call us to please people. He called us to reach the lost and share hope with the hopeless.

Sometimes we have a tendency to want to give up and walk away because we don’t feel qualified. Or we feel like our past is so littered with failure and disappointment that we just don’t have it together enough to make a difference. Listen, Jesus took a group of unqualified men with severely disturbing pasts and turned the world upside down. Don’t give up.

Satan has a true gift of bringing up your past and throwing it in your face. It’s like your sin may have been drowned in the Sea of Forgetfulness, but Satan is always fishing in the place your sins were drowned. And every time he hooks something and parades it in front of you, you want to walk away because you’re reminded of who you were. Don’t do that. Realize who you are in Christ. 1 Cor. 6:11 says “...you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” And in 2 Cor. 5:17 the Apostle Paul writes, “...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” So don’t give up. Keep fighting. You are where you are because God has put you there. And as such, there’s a work for you to complete – so don’t quit.

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