Have you ever felt like giving up?  Have you ever wanted to throw in the towel and walk away?  Ever been so discouraged you can't imagine going on?  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to jump off a cliff and just end it all?  Millions of people in our world this morning are standing on the edge of that cliff and looking down.  Maybe you're one of those.  If so, I have some words of encouragement, words of life from the God who gives life, words I hope will help you walk away and start all over again.

          "Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

          It was an aged Apostle Paul who wrote these words.  He was tired.  He was weary of struggle.  And he was speaking to a people who were tired and weary.  The persecutions had started, and this new group of Christians in Corinth was getting tired of all their troubles.  They were becoming discouraged.  Many had been imprisoned and some had been murdered for the faith.  Because of their troubles, some had turned their backs on the faith and others were considering it.  Ironically, it's Paul, the old prophet in poor health, who encourages them, "Don't Lose Heart!"

          You might expect that from an old warrior who had seen many troubles and lived through them.  Paul had learned how to get through the bad times.  Lots of people have.  But when it's YOU that's in hot water, when YOU are the one struggling, when it's YOU life is treating unfairly, then it's easy to want to give up.  So if you see yourself here, I have a special message - "Don't lose heart!"

          Paul here tells us three things:  (1) Outwardly we're dying - inwardly we're renewed,  (2) Our troubles are preparing us for glory, so let's  (3) Seek the unseen, the eternal things of God.  Let's take each of these three points one at a time.

          (1)   "Outwardly we're dying - inwardly we're renewed."  Paul was getting old.  It's no fun doing that.  We joke about it, but when it happens, it can be a real pain.  A retired minister once told me how nice the first few years of his retirement were, but then came his wife's illnesses.  Nine surgeries in five years!  She could barely walk and he couldn't leave her for more than a few hours.  Finally she died.  Outwardly the man's world was dying.  Like the old one who said, "Some days I feel like I'm falling apart, and what scares me is that they don't make parts for me anymore!"

          "Outwardly we're dying", says Apostle Paul, "Yet inwardly we're being renewed every day."  It's like our body is getting older, but when we worship and honor God, read and grow in His Word and pray regularly and fervently, our soul gets younger, stronger.  Our body gets older, but our soul gets younger!  I mentioned this to an elderly woman last week, and she said, "Wonderful!  At least something about me is young!"

          Outwardly we may be getting weaker, but inwardly God is renewing us.  Renewal happens through connection with God - prayer and study.  Renewal happens when we do a kind deed to an enemy.  It happens when we speak God's Word and help others in their tough times.  No matter how old and weary you feel, God makes you younger!  So don't lose heart!

          (2)   "Our troubles are preparing us for glory."  This past week I finished Eusebius, a Church history and read about the martyr, Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, very old when he was martyred in 155 AD.  The townspeople were at the arena watching Christians being tossed to the lions -- a sort of precursor to Sunday NFL!  Evidently things got dull, so the crowd called for them to bring out the old man, Polycarp.  The soldiers came to his house, and knowing why they had come, Polycarp asked them, "Let me pray one hour, and let my servant bring you some refreshment."  They agreed.

          The soldiers took him to the man in charge of the games.  Now he didn't want to see this dear old man die, so he said, "This doesn't have to happen!  If you will curse your God, I will let you go and you'll live."  But Polycarp said, "How can I turn my back on the God who has been with me these 85 years?"  "But do you realize how hot and painful it is to burn at the stake?"  Polycarp replied, "And how long will I suffer -- a half hour?  A whole hour?  What is that to an eternity of suffering because I turned my back on God?"  Polycarp was looking past the moment.  He knew his troubles were momentary -- they just don't last that long, but eternity is forever.

          Friends, all our problems will pass.  They're preparing us for God's eternal glory, IF WE DON'T LOSE HEART!

          (3)   "Seek the unseen, the eternal things of God."  One of the frustrations of life is that we can't fix everything that's wrong.  You may be able to fix a few things in your own life, but then you read the morning paper about crime and corruption and folly, even within churches, and you want to go back to bed and hide!  The foolishness of this world, the troubles we see around us, and the struggles we have, we can't always change.  We can fix some things, but we can't fix everything.

          But not everything is important.  In fact, most of it is trivial.  The Bible says it's transient!  It's won't last!  It's a lot of hot air!  In Breckenridge we saw several huge balloons, rising into the skies supported by nothing more than hot air.  When the ride is over, they fold it up and go home.  Sometimes churches act like that.  They meet in convention, talk a lot of hot air and then go home.  Church conventions don't really matter.  Most of what's on the evening news doesn't matter.  Most of our personal struggles will not last.  But the things of God -- the precious things faith, hope, love and forgiveness -- those are the REAL treasures of this life, and they will last forever!

          A young embittered man was ill and in the hospital.  He asked a nurse, "Would your God give me $100 if I asked him?  He's evidently given a whole lot more to that rich old Mr. Jones in the other room."  The kindly nurse replied, "If you met the president for the first time, would you ask him for $100?"  "Why no, not until I knew him better."  The nurse said, "God gives millions of dollars to Mr. Jones, but then Mr. Jones knows God very well.  When you know God better, it will not be for money you ask, but what you need far more."  "And what will that be?" asked the young man.  "Forgiveness of sins, faith, and a change of heart.  After that there will be time to ask God for other things."

          Jesus once said, "Do not store up treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt and where thieves steal.  But store up treasures in heaven, where no moth or rust or thief can take away.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)  It's the unseen, the eternal things of God we must seek.  With those first, it will be much harder to become discouraged and lose heart.

          Our Lord Jesus is speaking to us this morning.  He's always speaking, but we aren't always listening.  That's a common reaction to Jesus.  He came into the world and the world didn't listen to Him.  He came to His own people but they didn't receive Him.  He treated His disciples as if they were family, but they abandoned Him in the hour of His most critical need.  He proclaimed God's love, and faith, and forgiveness, yet His own family didn't accept His words.  He offered the Kingdom of God to the world, but it nailed Him to a cross.

          If ever there was someone to lose heart, it should have been Jesus.  He went the whole distance, never giving up, never being defeated, never becoming hateful or bitter.  He never lost heart.  And He promises that if we people cling to Him, we won't either.  There's an old poem about boxing called, "Fight One More Round."  One verse goes something like this:

When you're tired and weary, fight one more round.
When you can't hold up your arms, fight one more round.
When your nose is bleeding and your head is sagging, fight one more round.
When you just want to lay down and die, fight one more round.

          Jesus must have felt like that.  He could have given up.  Or He could have brought in the angels and mopped the place up.  But He didn't.  He didn't lose heart, even against such huge odds.  That's why He's our Savior, because He went the distance and didn't lose heart.  For the hope that was before Him, He pressed on.  Old Polycarp could have turned his back on Jesus and saved his life.  But he must have recalled words of his Lord, "Whoever will save his life will lose it.  Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."  While I was driving back from visiting a member a fine song came on KWBI.  The chorus went something like this:

"He'd never bring you this far just to leave you,
He'd never lift you up just to let you down.
He'd never call you to follow and then walk away,
For He's your Lord and He's here to stay."

          My friends, don't lose heart.  Things may not be all good and right, but God is still in control.  Our lives may not be perfect, but in Jesus we're all forgiven.  You may have poor health, but then the blessedness of heaven is so near.  Your heart may be weary, but God still holds you in the palm of His hand.  God's church may not be filled with perfect people but it's still His church.  We may feel like tossing in the towel, but our Lord never will.  May the God of peace fill you with all hope and peace and joy as you trust in Him for all that's lasting in life, amen!

Copyright © 2000 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.