Have you ever felt like quitting, like giving up and throwing in the towel. Certainly there is a sense in which we need to never quit, never give in or give up, but on the other hand, there is a sense in which we must give up. Huh? I know what your thinking. Your thinking “that preacher has finally cashed in all his marbles and has really lost his mind.” Not at all. Follow me and I think you'll agree, at least in theory, if not in practice. That's the hard part.

Do you ever think or feel like you need to give God a helping hand? After all, He has the whole world to look after. He might get distracted from me, so I'd better look out for myself. When I do, what usually happens? I flub things up. When it comes to serving God out of a true, faithful and yeilded heart, we should never quit. When it comes to trying to do things for myself... I need to quit, throw in the towel and give up.

Some are not willing to quit because they are not willing to give up the things they want or they are not  willing to pay the price of dying to self and living for Christ. Each has his own little private something that he is reluctant to lay down. Until I am ready to lay everything down and pursue Christ with reckless abandon I am not ready to wear the name “Christian.” Jesus says “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10:37-39) What does a man value more than his life or the lives of those in his family? Yet he cannot follow Christ until he is willing to give them all up.

Some say counting the cost is very hard. It is not. Counting the cost is easy. Following Christ will cost all. It is the paying that we find difficult. It doesn't have to be difficult. It can be easy, almost effortless in fact. All one needs to do is focus his heart upon the gospel of Jesus Christ, the love of God demonstrated in the old rugged cross. With my eyes fixed upon the cross, all else falls away into insignificance.

There are a multitude of things that people want to hold onto when coming to Christ, but all must be surrendered. Some want to hold onto their human pride. One may say “I want to be saved but I don't want to do it in front of anybody.” It is not required that a crowd be present to be saved, but if one is not willing to give up his pride when coming to Jesus, his pride will damn his soul.

One may say “I want to be saved, but I don't want to give up... (fill in the blank).  None has to be sinless or perfect when coming to Christ, nor can one be sinless or perfect. However, anything that I am not willing to give up to follow Christ, whether it be wrong or right, in and of itself, can cost me my soul.

At the other end of the scale is the person who doesn't have the problem of giving something up but rather, he wants to bring something into the equation. The equation is simple: God's grace offered in Jesus Christ crucified + man's response to accepting that grace by faith. There are many who want to add something  or even many things to the equation. I am not talking here about the obedience of faith, but rather works of merit, and fassad of religion.

The moment I begin trusting in my works, noble though they be, I have stopped trusting in the fully accomplished work of Christ on the cross. I must obey God and work the works of righteousness because His grace has freed me to do so. Through Christ I am free from the human pride that categorizes works and says “this I will do” and “this I will not do.” I am free to say “for Christ, I will do anything.”

I remember a friend of may saying “You know Paul, I guess I'm just stubborn. I just believe that God is going to do what He says. I believe He hear my prayers, so I just keep on praying.” WOW! Talk about a wake up call, it was like being hit in the head with an anvil. Isn't this a wonderful type of stubborness to have? Shall I throw myself upon the nail pierce and blood stained feet of Jesus? Shall I wrap my arms tightly around his legs and stubbornly refuse to let go? Shall I give up all my pretense of religion and live like a radical disciple of my Lord? Yes. I shall. I will rest upon Him and Him alone. I give up. I quit.