Don’t Quit

Quitting rarely happens in one dramatic moment. It’s usually a slow fade: a goal you cared about gets crowded out, your passion cools, and one missed day turns into a new normal. Today I’m talking about that drift and how to fight it with perseverance, faith, and a clear sense of purpose, especially if you’re trying to live out your God-given calling in everyday life. 

Transcript

Welcome And Daily Rhythm

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Good morning and welcome to Starting Right. I am Danny Mack, and I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back and relax for the next five minutes as I help you start your day by starting right.

Purpose And The Quit Problem

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Over the last few months, I've spent a fair bit of time preparing for a course that I'm going to be teaching. It's about leadership and passion and calling and finding the purpose that God has placed on your life. And in the study for that course, I've come across a number of things that have challenged me. They've challenged me about the things that I've done and am doing in my life, and it's actually been really good for me. But all of it is now coming together for what I want to be able to teach. One of the challenges I recognize that is common to many of us is that we start a lot of things where we feel we have got this purpose and this plan and this direction, and we're starting to move toward it and we go along fairly well, but then for whatever reason, uh our passion or our decision to carry on sort of fades away and we wind up quitting.

The Guitar Lesson We All Live

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I think of the time where I wanted to learn the guitar. I was sure that this is what I wanted to do, and I bought a guitar. It was a cheap one, but it was still a guitar, and I took some lessons, and then before you know it, it sort of faded away, and I wound up giving that guitar away. It has been said that the key difference between success and failure in almost anything is to never quit. Don't give up, keep going. As soon as you quit, you lose. As soon as you quit, you will never reach that goal. As long as you keep going, you're getting closer and closer and closer to what you need to be. And that is just as true scripturally as it is anywhere else. Paul said, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

The Pianist Who Whispered Keep Going

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Tony Dungey, who was one of the great football coaches of all time, has written a number of books, and in one of his books he tells the story of a Polish pianist and composer Ignacy Pataruski and how he was scheduled to perform in Philadelphia. Before this performance began, and while the people were starting to arrive and making their way to their seats, there was a young boy who came in and sat down beside his mother, but looking up on the stage he saw the piano now in spotlight looking shiny and beautiful up on that stage. The young boy, fascinated by this piano, snuck away from his mother, climbed up on the platform, and then onto the seat of the piano. To the absolute shock of everyone in the concert hall, he played his own version of Chopsticks. And as you can imagine, immediately people started shouting, Who is that boy? Where are his parents? Get him off the stage and away from that piano. Off stage, Pataruski had heard all this commotion. He looked out and saw the young boy playing. So he walked up behind the young lad, leaned over him, and began to play the most beautiful melody around the simple tune that the boy was playing. As he did, Pataruski whispered into the boy's ear, Don't stop. Keep going, don't quit. I'll be right here by your side. Really, isn't that what Jesus does to us? He is saying every day, don't quit. Don't give up. I'm right here by your side. Don't quit. Don't give up. Keep going. Keep moving forward. Keep experiencing what I have for you. Keep experiencing all the good things that are there. Keep doing what I have called you to do and what I've called you to be. Do not quit.

Finish The Work You’re Given

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In Acts chapter 20 and verse 24, Paul says, My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it to finish the work assigned to me by the Lord Jesus. We've all got our assignments. But we often forget what those assignments are. We don't know what we are supposed to do. All we see are the problems ahead of us. We fail to remember that today I can have an impact on my children. Today I can impact the people I work with by being the kind of person God wants me to be. Today I can make a difference in the life of someone who is struggling that I can phone and just encourage and let them know that God is good and maybe go pick up some groceries for them or do something for them. I can make a difference in their life. There are reasons for us each day to get up and keep going, to not quit, to keep pushing forward, and all along the way he's whispering in your ear, don't quit. Don't stop. I'll stay right here by your side.

Closing Encouragement And Invitation

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Have a great day, everybody. We'll talk again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today. And I invite you to join me Monday to Friday right here on Starting Right with Danny Mack.