I think our world is plagued with lots of bad things; at the heart of things going wrong, I’m seeing lots of men quit on a consistent basis. My specific frame of reference: Team Sports. Young men are hanging it up in mid-season. I’ve got no problem with guys who don’t play sports- my beef is with guys who commit to a team sport and then decide they want to stay at home, play xbox, make out with their girl friend or just stare at the wall. Being a part of team sport is not about you but the team. Too many times guys show up ready to have the team serve them. This might not sound like a big deal, after all, we are talking teenage sporting events here. Who cares if these guys quit, right? I’m not looking at the sports- I’m looking at the habit that is developing.
If you can tell off your buddies and teammates because you just don’t feel like doing the work you said you would do- what are you going to tell your wife when things go south in your marriage someday? Being a part of something when things are good- well that is easy! Sticking with it because you are a man of your word- that’s tough. I’m concerned because we don’t need a church of guys who quit. I’ve met people who wander from church to church because of whatever reason. Bottom line- relationships with people in the church are hard work. If you just quit when you don’t like something- what is accomplished? You move down the street, everything is great for about a year and then you get your feelings hurt and quit again. Sorry to be so blunt- but quitting doesn’t work. I think part of why God gives us the local church is so that we learn not to quit. Even in our struggles with other Believers we learn to really love; love doesn’t quit.
If you could imagine one guy from Jesus’ day who was a trash talker, imagine Peter. He was the guy in the huddle (also called the disciples) who was really loud and excited about being a part of Jesus’ team. If you have never studied the life of peter, you should. Peter was a fisherman. We aren’t talking bass pro shop fishing on ESPN, we are talking about rough, loud and smelly old school net fishing. Peter was loud and probably told people around him ‘whatcha need to do is…” about all sorts of stuff. What happened, he boasted about staying beside Jesus and BAM he quits! He told everyone and their grandma that He was going to stay with Jesus through thick and thin. What happened? Jesus uses his self-promotion to illustrate just how Great His love is for people who consistently abandon our call as followers. Peter would deny Jesus 3 times before the next morning. Peter quit Jesus.
Here’s the deal: Peter quit but then learned from his fall and decided to get back in the race and finish. No matter where we are in life- if we have a breath to take, we have the opportunity to get back up and finish when it comes to following Christ. I’d encourage men to examine their lives and be on the look-out for a pattern of quitting. Quitting smoking- ok; constantly quitting jobs because you don’t handle authority- hey bud, it ain’t them, IT IS YOU!
