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August 5
"I Didn't"
For reading & meditation - Hebrews 12
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus ... who for the joy set before him endured the cross ..." (v. 2)
Another principle in coping with failure is this: If the thing in which you failed is clearly the right thing for you to do, then dedicate your energies to God, try again, and don't give up. A father, trying to encourage his teenage son after he had failed an examination, said, "Don?t give up, try again." "What's the use?" said the son. "It's easier to quit." His father remonstrated with him, saying, "The people who are remembered in life are the people who, when they failed, didn't give up, but tried again." He went on, "Remember Churchill? Remember Thomas Edison? They didn't give up!" The boy nodded. His father went on, "Remember John McCringle?" "Who is John McCringle?" the boy asked. "You see," said the father, "you don't remember him - he gave up." A poster showed a picture of a man sitting on a park bench looking depressed and disconsolate. His arms were folded across his chest, and there was a look of resignation on his face. The caption read, "I give up." When I first saw this poster, I looked at it for a few moments and turned away, but then my eye was attracted to something in the right-hand corner of the poster. It was a picture of a black hill and on it a very tiny cross. These words, barely perceptible, were printed beneath it: "I didn't." Feel like giving up at this moment? Then lift your eyes to the cross. The one who triumphed over all obstacles holds out His hands toward you. Take His hand, and in His strength and power - try again.
Prayer:
O God, help me to link my littleness to Your greatness, my faintheartedness to Your boldness, my fear to Your faith. Then nothing can stop me. Amen.
For Further Study
Philippians 3; James 1:6-8; Matthew 6:22
1. What was Paul's attitude?
2. What happens when our eye is single?
