Hold on. It's just about to get good.
I hate when it happens. You probably do to.
You're watching a football game (or whatever sport you're into) on TV with friends and your team is going nowhere fast. You're trying to persevere through it to show support, but three-fourths of the way through you throw up your hands and say, "Just forget it. This game's a wash." You pick up your stuff and leave. An hour later you receive a call from your friends who finished watching the game until the end. They are screaming and cheering on the other end of the phone saying, "We did it! We actually won!" You listen to the chaos over the phone as they try to catch their breath to explain that there was a game-changing play. At the eleventh hour, your team pulled through and won the whole thing! You left just before things really started getting good. You sigh with regret.
The same thing can happen with a movie. It's a slow start. You try to give it the benefit of the doubt but you're losing faith in the plot with each scene that goes by. Three-fourths of the way through you throw up your hands and say to your friends, "Just forget it. This movie's a waste." You pick up your stuff and leave. The next day you run into your friends and they say, "Hey! It's too bad you left when you did. There was a cool twist at the end that no one saw coming. Sorry you didn't stick around to see it. It was well worth it to hold out to the very end." You sigh with regret.
And the same thing can happen to our faith and Christian walk. We try to walk it out. We give it a chance. We give it years of our lives, hours of our service, sweat from our brow. We feel like we have given it a fair shot. But, at the three-quarter mark, we are tired. In some ways, we're actually disgusted. We look around and say to our friends, "Just forget it. This Jesus thing is a joke." Or we say, "This church thing is for the birds." Or we say, "This life of giving and service and sacrifice is not for me. I'm out." We pick up our stuff and leave.
But, just like in the scenario of the game and the movie, we need to realize that it's not over until it's over. If we walk out now, we might be leaving just before things start getting really good. Who's to say that God doesn't have a game-changing move up His sleeve? Who's to say that He's done writing the script? Maybe there's a twist He has planned that no one saw coming. And, if you leave now you will surely miss it.
Don't be the one that leaves the game early. Don't be the one that regrets not finishing to see how the story ends. Stick around. One thing is for sure... when God is in it, no one is ever disappointed.
You're watching a football game (or whatever sport you're into) on TV with friends and your team is going nowhere fast. You're trying to persevere through it to show support, but three-fourths of the way through you throw up your hands and say, "Just forget it. This game's a wash." You pick up your stuff and leave. An hour later you receive a call from your friends who finished watching the game until the end. They are screaming and cheering on the other end of the phone saying, "We did it! We actually won!" You listen to the chaos over the phone as they try to catch their breath to explain that there was a game-changing play. At the eleventh hour, your team pulled through and won the whole thing! You left just before things really started getting good. You sigh with regret.
The same thing can happen with a movie. It's a slow start. You try to give it the benefit of the doubt but you're losing faith in the plot with each scene that goes by. Three-fourths of the way through you throw up your hands and say to your friends, "Just forget it. This movie's a waste." You pick up your stuff and leave. The next day you run into your friends and they say, "Hey! It's too bad you left when you did. There was a cool twist at the end that no one saw coming. Sorry you didn't stick around to see it. It was well worth it to hold out to the very end." You sigh with regret.
And the same thing can happen to our faith and Christian walk. We try to walk it out. We give it a chance. We give it years of our lives, hours of our service, sweat from our brow. We feel like we have given it a fair shot. But, at the three-quarter mark, we are tired. In some ways, we're actually disgusted. We look around and say to our friends, "Just forget it. This Jesus thing is a joke." Or we say, "This church thing is for the birds." Or we say, "This life of giving and service and sacrifice is not for me. I'm out." We pick up our stuff and leave.
But, just like in the scenario of the game and the movie, we need to realize that it's not over until it's over. If we walk out now, we might be leaving just before things start getting really good. Who's to say that God doesn't have a game-changing move up His sleeve? Who's to say that He's done writing the script? Maybe there's a twist He has planned that no one saw coming. And, if you leave now you will surely miss it.
Don't be the one that leaves the game early. Don't be the one that regrets not finishing to see how the story ends. Stick around. One thing is for sure... when God is in it, no one is ever disappointed.
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