A Pepper Grinder Post

Don't Give Up

I can rise to dramatic occasions. My wife likes to tell the story of the time we were hit head-on by a driver under the influence of something. When our van had come to a stop, I yelled to my wife and the seven of our kids who were with us, "Is everyone all right?" When I had determined that no one was seriously injured, I said, "I've got to go see if she's all right!" (She being the driver who had just hit us.) I was in a situation where I could try to help people by taking action. I was doing what came naturally to me with my temperament.

Fast-forward 16+ years to now. At this very moment, my wife and I were supposed to be staying in a hotel at the beach, courtesy of the denomination we're part of, so that I could lead worship at a 3-day event. On the last day of the event, the archbishop (the highest level person in our denomination) was supposed to be in attendance. I was excited. Instead, the event was canceled because of the coronavirus. In fact, I'm not even leading worship at the small church we attend, because all services have been canceled due to the virus. Normally I work from home part-time and am in the office part-time. Now I'm home all the time. The occasional high point of my days, in terms of doing something out of the ordinary, is going to Walmart to see if I can find any of the items that have been out-of-stock lately.

This is not an adrenaline-pumping crisis like getting hit by an inebriated driver. This is a slow, grinding crisis. It is not the kind of crisis I like. This is why I need to hear what Paul wrote to the Galatians many years ago.

Don't be fooled--God will not be tricked. What a man plants is what he will harvest. The one who plants to please his human nature will harvest destruction from that nature. The one who plants for the Spirit will harvest eternal life from the Spirit. We should not become discouraged in doing good, for at the right time we'll get our harvest if we don't give up. For this reason, when we have the chance, we should do good to all people, especially to fellow believers. (Galatians 6:7-10, my translation)

Paul does not appear to have written this epistle to people who were experiencing intense persecution. Instead, he wrote to a people who were in danger of being worn down. They were looked down upon by Jews and Gentiles alike. The slow, steady pressure was to blunt their Christianity to fit in better with those around them. Paul here has two things to say to these people.

God will not be tricked. You may think that you can change yourself to be more acceptable to people without changing fundamentally. Paul's message is, however well you might do at fooling people, you will not be able to trick God. He knows your heart. He knows if your deepest desire is to please him, or if what you most want is to make your life easier or win people's approval.

To a people who were much closer to the realities of the agricultural life than many of us are, Paul gave a farming analogy. You might be able to tell people you were planting corn when you were actually planting thorn bushes, but when the plants come up, what was planted will become obvious. In the same way, if our strongest desire isn't to please God, it will become clear sooner or later.

The second essential message is the one that most speaks to me as I sit in isolation: Don't become discouraged in doing good. Don't give up. Paul's message is not just a moralistic, "Come on, buck up" message. He gives a concrete reason why we shouldn't. Going back to the planting analogy, he says that in due time, we'll get our harvest if we don't give up. In the Greek, Paul literally says, "For we will reap, each in his own time, if we don't give up." For some people, it may be that the appointed time for their harvest will not be in this life. However, the way Paul refers to a particular time appointed for each person implies to me that he is not just referring to the last judgment, when we shall all stand before God.

The word that Paul uses when he commands us not to become discouraged has the literal meaning of becoming tired out. Similarly, when Paul tells us not to give up, the word he uses is the same word that Jesus used when he said he didn't want to send a crowd away in the middle of the wilderness, for fear that the people would collapse from hunger. Paul isn't speaking here of dramatic denials of Christ, but of the danger of getting tired out until we reach the point where our faith collapses.

The temptation facing the Galatians, and the temptation facing many of us, is to get discouraged during that long period between planting and harvest.

There are some Christians who have to make a decision in a moment of crisis about whether to deny Christ or be killed or suffer intense persecution. However, I think there are probably many more Christians who have to make decisions about whether to keep or deepen their hold on Christ as they slog on through life. These decisions may not be dramatic, but Paul leaves no doubt that they are crucial. It is at those times that we must remind ourselves not to give up and not to let discouragement divert us from the path God has chosen for us.

- Pepper
Posted 2020-03-29

*Image Credits: Man getting his temperature taken from The Hill