When Winston Churchill was an older man, famous for his leadership of England during WWII, he was invited back to his boyhood school, the Harrow School, to deliver a commencement address.
When he was introduced, Churchill rose from his seat, walked to the podium and stared briefly at the audience. Then he spoke boldly three words: NEVER GIVE UP! He walked back to his chair and sat down.
The stunned students sat in silence. Then Churchill rose again, walked to the podium and said a second time, NEVER GIVE UP! And, as before, he returned to his seat. He repeated that scene five times, never saying anything but those three words: NEVER GIVE UP!
If that account is true, then it is also true that no one in the audience ever forgot Sir Winston’s commencement address.
If, in this hour, your burden is so heavy you are ready to quit, then it may be time to follow Churchill’s advice: Never give up! Never give up because God will never give up on you! Look at the biblical record of God’s unwillingness to give up on his people:
Adam and Eve disobeyed God, but God did not give up on them. Abraham lied, telling Pharaoh that Sarah was his sister, but God never gave up on Abraham. Moses killed a man and fled, but God never gave up Moses. David had Uriah killed so he could sleep with his wife but God did not give up on David. Israel kept ignoring God’s commandments, but God never gave up on his chosen people. The disciples all ran away and hid when Jesus was being crucified, but God did not give up on them.
One of those disciples was their leader, a man named Peter. Only hours before the crucifixion, Peter had boldly said to Jesus, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” But fear took over when the soldiers seized Jesus in the garden and led him away. Peter followed at a distance, but when he was identified as a disciple of Jesus, Peter suddenly became a liar and a coward. Then watching the soldiers torture Jesus, and hearing the cock crow, Peter wept bitterly, overwhelmed with regret for having denied even knowing Jesus.
Peter gave up on Jesus, but Jesus never gave up on Peter. Not long after the resurrection, Jesus served Peter breakfast on the beach and forgave him. The Lord’s mercy motivated Peter to become an awesome leader of the early church. But Peter’s remarkable transformation happened only because Peter began trusting Jesus.
What does it mean to trust Jesus? It means to embrace the truth that he is truly the promised Messiah, that God raised him from the dead, and that he will save from their sins all who profess him as Lord. The familiar song, “He is Lord,” sums up the faith of those who trust Jesus:
He is Lord, he is Lord;
He is risen from the dead and he is Lord;
Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess
That Jesus Christ is Lord.
To trust Jesus as Lord is to believe that he continually comes to his disciples, offering opportunities to know him, love him and serve him. There is a beautiful verse in the last book of the New Testament which contains these words of Jesus: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).
Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts. He waits for us to open the door so we can enjoy rich fellowship with him in a relationship like no other. Before we can open the door to Jesus, we turn off the other voices to which we are listening, and begin listening to Jesus. What Jesus says to us is life-changing: “I love you. I died for you. And I am never going to give up on you. I am going to keep knocking on the door of your heart, inviting you to trust me and begin living in a holy relationship with me.”
I know from experience that Jesus does not give up on people. He did not give up on me when our son was suffering and dying. When I was ready to give up on Jesus, and surrender my weakening faith, he sent a man to my home on the morning my son died. God used the words of that man to save me from cynicism. He said, “God is hurting with you.” Those words kept me from giving up and inspired me to begin trusting Jesus.
Years later Jesus did not give up on me when I was struggling with my failures, mainly my failure to be the father I should have been to my sons. Embarrassed, depressed and seriously ill in a hospital in Fairfax, Virginia, I was ready to give up again. But Jesus spoke to me through the 31st chapter of Jeremiah and reassured me he had not given up on me. Once again I decided to trust him. And he assured me that despite my flaws, he was going to bless my ministry and bring my sons back to the faith they had been taught. In the years that followed I had the joy of celebrating the truth that God keeps all his promises!
When you open the door to Jesus, you become alive to God. Apart from Jesus, you are dead. In him you are alive! Your faith in Jesus does not spare you from life’s hardships, but in the midst of them he will give you joy, peace, love and hope. Apart from him you have misery and frustration because you are not in sync with God’s will for you. Only Jesus can tell you who you are, and what God’s will is for you. Only Jesus can help you forgive and love people who have hurt you. But he can do it!
In the National Gallery of London, you can gaze upon a famous painting of Jesus. He is standing at a cottage door knocking. Everything looks normal except for one thing – there is no handle or knob on the door. The painter wants us to see that the knob of the door is on the inside. Jesus is knocking and the door can only be opened from the inside. That painting awakens in us the words of Jesus in Revelation 3:20 – “Here I stand, knocking….”
But that canvas in London is just a painting. The greater reality is that the living Christ, who was raised from the dead by the power of almighty God, is knocking on the door of your heart – if you have not opened it to Him. If you have opened it, keep listening and obeying. When I listen, the first thing He says to me is this: “This is my command: love one another as I have loved you!”
Then He says, “Build some bridges today, Walter!” I know what he means. It comes from a story of two brothers who were farmers. They had adjoining farms but a dispute made them bitter toward each other.
One day a carpenter came by one brother’s home and asked if he could do some work for food. The brother said, “Yes, build me a fence, ten feet high, between me and my brother.”
The carpenter went to work while the brother went into town. When he returned that evening, what he found was not a fence but a bridge. As he stood in amazement, he saw his brother walking across the bridge, smiling and saying, “After all I have done to you, I can’t believe you built this bridge.” They embraced, and looking around, discovered the carpenter was walking away. “Please stay,” they said “No,” he said, “I have more bridges to build.”
Today Jesus is saying one of two things: “Let me in!” Or “Help me build some bridges!” If you have not opened the door, trust Jesus and do it now.
If you have opened it, rededicate your life to trusting Jesus and building bridges! And never, ever, give up because he will never give up on you!