Never Give In

I love history and I recently read the biography of Winston Churchill called “The Last Lion – Winston Spencer Churchill Keeper Of The Realm 1940-1965”. This guy was an amazing & unique man. He was relentless in his fight against the Nazi regime of Hitler. He gave inspirational speeches because he was an inspirational leader. He was asked to speak at his old school. He went back there at the request of the head master of the school. He gave a speech to those young men that resounded around the world. His passion and his grit showed through. Here is an excerpt that was never forgotten:

“I am addressing myself to the School—surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. -Winston S. Churchill

Many decades prior, the Apostle Paul had written with similar inspiration the Corinth Church. He spoke plainly about the struggles that we will face and how we should face them. Check this out….

⁷ We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

¹⁶ That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. ¹⁷ For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!¹⁸ So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. (2 Corinthians 4:7,16-18 NLT)

I recently heard a quote that was given to a young man as he was deployed. “We don’t fight because we hate what’s in front us, we fight because we love what is behind us”. I know a lot of people who are suffering right now, even fighting for their very life. Some are fighting disease or cancer. Some were injured in an automobile accident. Some have been through divorce or the death of a loved one. There is tremendous suffering and struggle all around. There are times it would be so easy to give in and just quit. The Lord calls me to trust Him to the very end of my life. The never wastes an opportunity to work through us in the middle of suffering and struggle.

I thought about a friend whom I met recently who is battling cancer and liver disease. This person had the biggest smile and told me that they were blessed. I was absolutely inspired and encouraged by this attitude in the face of a tremendous battle.  I want to have a “never give in” attitude. I want to honor God until I breathe my last breath.  I want to keep my gaze fixed on the eternal, unseen life while I battle through struggles in this life I can see.

Pressing On!

Dwayne