Perhaps some reader has tried to be a Christian, but
failed. If so, why not try again? Great success does not always come from a
single effort. Worthwhile things are
always worth trying and striving for, even if we must try again and again. In the year 1917, a tornado destroyed our
home, blew it away and ruined our crops on a farm before it tore up Carbon
Hill, Alabama, and left the dead and the homeless in its wake. But we did not give up and quit. The next spring we found ourselves planting
again, and soon we were growing a crop.
Life is much like that. Wars are not usually won by a single battle. But battle after battle must be fought
before the victory is won. In a way
some of these battles are lost, but victory belongs to those who win the last
battle.
One young man started in to fight the cigarette
habit but soon felt that the weed had conquered him. However, he decided that no man is licked who will keep on
trying, again and again. So he summoned
all his forces and marshalled them against this dangerous habit. A day at a time he vowed to his friends and
to God that he would not smoke that day, regardless of what happened. Soon he had conquered the habit which is the
master of millions in our land.
Very few spend a long life in the service of Christ
without ever getting discouraged, and for the moment, giving up in
despair. But those who overcome the
world are they who (if need be) try again and again – who refuse to surrender
to the evil one. If they fail, they go
down fighting – soon to rise again.
It is easy to give up and quit when the going gets
rough, as it most certainly will – sooner or later. Long roads usually have some detours and rough places over which
one must travel in order to reach the desired destiny.
The Christian life is like running a race (Heb.
12:1f; I Cor. 9:25f). If one fails he should get up and try
again. The new birth is a sort of “Land of beginning again” (John 3:5).
So is a restoration of an erring child of God (Gal. 6:1; James
5:19-20).