Concluding the reflection on Philippians 3:1-14, if my battery was soon to run out there are five big statements that I would be happy to make my closing chapter.
The fifth:- Don’t quit until the gorilla is tired.
14 I press on to reach the end of the race
I heard a speaker say recently:
When you are wrestling an 1800lb gorilla, you don’t give up because you are tired, you give up because the gorilla is tired.
Saints are sinners who kept on going. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
A close friend and pastor is considering leaving the pastoral ministry.
He said, “I am not giving up, or quitting. I am fully committed to being obedient to God’s call. But sometimes God’s call is to care for one’s wife and family, and to accept the changes such obedience might bring.”
What does the 1800lb gorilla represent, and what is it you are really called to persevere in?
For the first question, refer to last week: what is getting in the way, getting between you and God? What is the obstacle? Don’t let it win.
For the second question; look at Paul. He faced constant change, on the move, new colleagues, new challenges, opposition from outside and often from those who claimed to be Christ-followers.
He persevered in his calling. He resolved to finish the race.
These are challenging times for business, for families, for governments, and for churches, but it is a chapter that will eventually give way to the next chapter.
So we persevere in our calling.
We are pressing on as a community of God’s people that He has brought together in this area to honour Him and serve Him.
And we do not give up.