PRESS ON!

 

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.  (Gal.6:9)

It is always too soon to quit.  Satan wins the victory if we stop even one step from the goal God has set for us.  Discouragement is one of the Devil’s most effective weapons.  Discouragement leads to despair, and despair to defeat.  In the heat of battle, we cannot flee from the fight, but must face the foe and press on!

Paul tells us not to become weary doing good, because doing good is always the difficult thing.  Everybody would be doing good if it were easy.  Instead, we will be racing into the wind and swimming against the current.  We must press on!

God promises a harvest if we till the soil, plant the seed, cultivate the ground and patiently wait.  The farmer doesn’t sow the seed and return the next day—or even the next week—and expect to gather the crop.  Following the spring of planting, there is the long, hot labor of summer, for without that there cannot be the harvest of fall, and the winter of feasting.  Even then, there will be the seed to preserve and the soil to prepare for the next season to plant.  We dare not give up when we do not see immediate results, for God has promised a harvest!  The timing of its arrival and the quantity of its yield is up to His sovereignty, but the assurance there will be something to reap is rooted in Him who cannot lie and will not fail.  What we must do is press on!

That doesn’t mean it will be easy.  It absolutely will not be!  The Lord warned us.  Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)  Jesus doesn’t sugarcoat the difficulty.  We can have peace—being at relying on His work and resting in His will—the peace of His providence.  When Satan says, “Give up!” then the Savior says, “Go on!”  The Devil would make us lose heart, but we hear Jesus say, “Take heart!”  Cheer up, my brother and my sister, and press on!  How can we be overcome with worry, then He has overcome the world?  This is not the wishful thinking of a feeble man, but the triumphant promise of the God of Heaven!  The tide of trouble will beat against the seawall of our confidence, yet it cannot break us down if we are grounded on the Rock of Ages!  May God give us a resolute faith, a tenacious hope, and an enduring love so we may press on!

Years ago, I had one of those challenging times when I had major surgery and an extended hospital stay.  One of the things that helped me was an inspiring book by Bible teacher, Warren Wiersbe called, “The Bumps Are What You Climb On.”  The opening story is of a small boy and his sister walking up a steep mountain path, strewn with stones.  He complained about it, “This is no path at all!  It’s all rocky and bumpy!”  She answered, “The bumps are what you climb on!”  They are.  Press on, dear child of God.  Press on!