Don’t Give Up!
By Rick Warren
“All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.” Hebrews 11:39-40 (NLT)
It’s not easy to live by faith. We live in a broken world. The weather doesn’t work right. Our bodies don’t work right. Our relationships don’t work right.
As Adam was leaving the Garden of Eden, God told him that life would be hard—and it is. There’s a cosmic battle for your life going on inside of you and outside of you. You battle with your own sinful nature. You also battle against Satan himself, who wants nothing more than to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10 NLT).
And, sometimes, it just gets to you. You want to give up.
But in Hebrews 11, God urges you to hang on in faith because he hasn’t forgotten you, and he will fulfill his promises to you. He promises to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). He promises to take away your tears (Revelation 7:17). And he gives you many other promises throughout his Word.
Hebrews 11 mentions a long list of biblical heroes who demonstrated faith in God’s promises: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, and others. Though they endured difficulties, they kept going in their spiritual journeys.
Hebrews 11:39-40 says, “All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us” (NLT).
When you feel like giving up, do more than just hang on. Believe and trust in God’s faithfulness to keep his promises. And remember that God isn’t limited by your time on Earth to fulfill his promises. He has all of eternity to keep his Word.
Let those promises give you hope for all that God is doing in you and for you—even when it’s tough.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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