“And so, since God in his mercy has given us this wonderful ministry, we never give up.”1
Jacob Riis wrote, “I’d look at one of my stone-cutters hammering away at a rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet, at the hundred and first blow, it would split in two, and I knew it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”2
Like the Apostle Paul, if we are to live a meaningful life that will reap eternal rewards, we too, need to have a worthwhile purpose for which to live. When we know that our purpose is in harmony with God’s will, it is imperative that we never give up working to fulfill that purpose. In time, we will reap if we don’t faint. Certainly we will have setbacks, disappointments, and failures, but remember the only real failure is not to get back up one more time than we’ve fallen or been knocked down.
Like Michelangelo who said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free,” we need to see in our mind’s eye our God-given life purpose and keep “carving and hammering away” until it is achieved.
As God’s Word also says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”3
Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to see clearly your purpose for my life and keep ‘hammering away’ until that purpose, with your help, is fulfilled in my life. And grant that my life will thus help others and bring glory to you so that I will never feel that I have lived my life in vain. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
1. 2 Corinthians 4:1 (NLT).
2. Jacob A. Riis. Cited on: Inspire, http://www.inspirelist.com/
3. Galatians 6:9 (NIV).
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