‘Stay calm and be willing to suffer. You must work hard to tell the good news and to do your job well’ 2 Timothy 4:5 (CEV)
The apostle Paul, taught his young apprentice, Timothy, not to quit; that to stay the course, he needed to learn endurance. Winston Churchill was once asked to speak to the students of Oxford University. His most memorable speech lasted just four words: ‘Young people – don’t quit!’ Have you seen the classic film, Chariots of Fire? It charts the life of the young Scottish missionary Eric Liddel as he trains for the Olympics. His sister tries to encourage him to hang up his running shoes and go to the Chinese mission field as his father and grandfather did. ‘Aye, Jen,’ he says, ‘I know that Yehovah made me to be a missionary and that is what I will be. But He also made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure.’ You may not be a famous missionary or have a teacher like Paul. You may not fill stadiums with your preaching like Billy Graham, or rewrite a nation’s history like Martin Luther King Jr; but where do you feel the pleasure of Yehovah? Is it in the way you do your job, or the way you have been able to share your faith? Do you feel Yehovah’s pleasure as you serve others, expecting nothing in return? Even if nobody else says ‘thank-you’, your endurance does not go unnoticed in heaven. Be aware today of the sense of His presence; His pleasure with you, as you go about your daily life. What areas of His pleasure are you able to invest more in?