After a month of preaching a sermon series based on Galatians 6:7-9, I heard the best sermon yet on the subject of sowing and reaping, cultivating and growing, and the power of not giving up! (unfortunately, I didn’t preach it…it didn’t happen at actionchurch…and you weren’t there) :-)
Last night at my daughters Tae Kwon Do class, the instructor delivered a short sermon (his words, not mine) on the subject that I wish you could have heard. Here’s my best memory of what he said:
“If no one would quit, everyone in this room would be a blackbelt. That would be amazing. Someday you could say, ‘I’m a black belt in Olympic Tae Kwon Do’. Everyone played soccer as a kid…but not many people in the world can say that they are a black belt on a job resume. It won’t happen by ‘magic’. You can’t come in here once or twice a week and expect for it to happen. I can’t do it for you. You’ll have to work at home. You’ll have to practice everyday…but the system works…If you don’t quit, EVERYONE in this room could be a black belt.”
As the Master went on to explain that everyone would think about quitting, that everyone would want to quit at some point, that the only students that would make it to the end would be the ones who had someone (or something) that wouldn’t let them quit, it reminded me so much of what is also true of potential followers of Christ at Churches everywhere.
Following Christ is not easy. You will want to quit. I can’t do it for you. You’ll have to do more that show up once a week and listen to a sermon to make it happen. But God’s plan works…and there are AMAZING blessings in both this life and the next that come from that commitment.
One of the best things we can do as a church…in our actiongroups…in the relationships we make at church, is to help each other resist the urge to give up. We need to constantly remind each other that: “Everyone could be a blackbelt if no on quit”. I wish you could have been there…it was the best sermon I’ve heard on the subject yet.
7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. -Paul (Galatians 6: 7-9)