As I get older, I’m often tempted to give up, quit, sit in my recliner, and wait for God to call me home.
My muscles are stiff and don’t always work as they should. When I bend over to pick something off the floor, I must hold on to something to keep from falling. Everything takes longer than it once did, but I can’t give up and still claim to be a Christian. There is no retirement date for believers.
As I think of standing my ground, I remember my dad. He had little formal education but was not uneducated. He was a ferocious reader and Bible student and taught Sunday school for fifty years. He rose early each morning, started the fires in our wood stoves, and walked through the farmhouse singing songs of praise as our alarm clock went off. I know all the words to “His Name Is Wonderful,” “Jesus Paid It All,” and “Blessed Assurance” because he sang them repeatedly. His life revolved around his family, his love for the Lord, and his little country church where Christ was proclaimed. In his later years, his greatest sorrow was being unable to visit the sick, teach his Sunday school class, and help his neighbors.
Paul’s writings are full of encouragement to stand our ground. Even as he faced execution, he wrote to Timothy to stand firm and preach the Word. He told the Ephesian church to stand firm with the belt of truth buckled about their waist and their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Paul’s life of suffering demonstrates that pain and persecution often fill the life of a believer.
It would have been easy for Paul to say, “I’ve done my part; now let the younger ones take over.” I’m tempted to do that too. But the Bible doesn’t give us a time to give up and allow others to do what God has called us to do. So, when I have done everything, I want to stand my ground.
Make up your mind to stand your ground until the Lord calls you home.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay and Pexels.)
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Linda McClung grew up on a farm in Virginia and spent fifty years as a nurse, both practicing and teaching. She retired to South Carolina to enjoy the lake and became bored with too much time, so she began to write. At first, her stories were short stories for the grandchildren, but as they grew, so did her stories. She has three books published.