Episode 872 What the Bible Says about Giving Up
[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 872 of the inspired stewardship podcast.
[00:00:07] Travis Rosser: [00:00:07] I'm Travis Rosser or the author of you Inc. The step-by-step guide for finding the business within you. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your calling, having the ability to really find your gifts and calling is a key.
[00:00:28] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast by my friend, Scott Maderer.
[00:00:39] we have
[00:00:40] Scott Maderer: [00:00:40] to not give up. If it is something that God is calling us to do, we are not alone in that journey. Even when we make mistakes, even when things are challenging, even when we're talking bad to ourselves and tune into Saturday's Saturday night, special for some messages about that. [00:01:00] Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast.
[00:01:06] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself. Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
[00:01:27]And today's spiritual foundation episode about impacting the world. I talk with you about what the Bible says about giving up. I share second Corinthians chapter four, verses 16 and 17. And talk a little bit about the context of that and what it means about giving up lightly. I also share that at times we do need to take a pause or pivot, but never out of fear or weakness only out of the strength of the calling word.
[00:01:57] So today I wanted to talk a little bit about giving [00:02:00] up. No, the truth is, I think all of us have had times when we feel that the work that we're doing is just too much, that things are too hard and that we'll never be able to get all of it done. It's too big for us. It's too hard for us. It's too difficult for us.
[00:02:18] It's too challenging. Too many people are against us. Whatever it is. We all have those times when we feel like we should just give up. And the truth is if you read the Bible, there's comes up over and over again in the Bible as well. Psalms is full of songs about people who are losing heart, people who are giving up.
[00:02:43] Second Corinthians chapter four verses 16 through 17 says, therefore, we do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing yet, the inward man is being renewed day by day for our light affliction, which is, but for a moment is working for us far more [00:03:00] exceeding and eternal the weight of glory.
[00:03:02] I'll talk more about the context of that passage in a little bit. But it does tell us in the Bible, to be honest with God, about our feelings, if you've ever read the lamin tations or some of the prophet Jeremiah, where he's honestly will telling God how he feels, how angry he feels, how angry he feels with God and remembering that God is big enough to hear that God has promised us strength whenever we need it.
[00:03:33] Now that doesn't mean it's easy. And that doesn't mean that strength always comes in the way that we think it should or in the timing that we think it should. But the strength is there for us to draw on. We have to not give up. If it is something that God is calling us to do, we are not alone in that journey.
[00:03:55] Even when we make mistakes, even when things are challenging, even when we're talking [00:04:00] bad to ourselves and tune into Saturday's Saturday night, special for some messages about that. The truth is we're still in God's hands. We're still made in God's image and we cannot be separated from the love of God.
[00:04:14] God will be there whenever times are easy and God will be there whatever times or hard, or that passage from second Corinthians is in a larger passage about how we are giving up bad things. We are giving up secrets and things that we do in darkness. So that. We can go and be the light for the world.
[00:04:39] It's about not storing up ourselves and the great glory that we have in God, but instead showing it to others so that they can see the life at work within us. And that is why we are told not to lose heart because Christ is with us in [00:05:00] this passage. The Holy spirit is with us in this passage. God is with us in this passage and we are be being called to fix our eyes, not what to seen, but on what is unseen, not looking at the temporary, but looking at the eternal, that is the place where the strength of not giving up comes from.
[00:05:23] Now, as I say, all of this, one of the most difficult parts of it is knowing truly that it is something that God is calling us to do that it's not just something that we want to do or that weird wanting God to bless because we're doing it. And we think it should be blessed by God. But instead knowing that it is something that we're called to do, because sometimes we are called to take a pause to take a rest.
[00:05:49] God tells us to rest. Sometimes we're called by God to pivot or change directions or do something more in alignment with what God has actually [00:06:00] called us to do, because oftentimes what we first hear is not completely accurate. It's not the be all end all. It's not the final statement instead. It's just the beginning steps.
[00:06:12] And God does call for us to listen and respond, including responding with a call for a pause or a pivot. And sometimes you discern after you've been working for a while that nevermind, this really isn't the director that God has been calling me to go. I thought it was, but maybe you are actually going that direction out of selfish reasons.
[00:06:36] Not because it's what you were called by God to do. So the truth is we do want to listen. We do want to respond, but we aren't called to give up pivoting and pausing out of fear or out of frustration is never what we're called to do pivoting or pausing because we've refined what we now hear [00:07:00] God calling us to do.
[00:07:01] That makes sense. And often the best way to know the difference is by hearing. Not just the word in terms of what you listen to, what you hear in your prayer time, but also by listening to the wise counsel of others. Thanks for that.
[00:07:17]thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively. Listen. But act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this episode, do me a favor. Go over to facebook.com/inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and Mark it.
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