When To Give Up (August 21, 2005)

When does the virtue of steadfast perseverance become the vice of fatal stubbornness?

Perseverance is a virtue, generally. God has put it in our hearts to admire those who stick it out in the face of adversity and refuse to give up. We cheer Winston Churchill's exhortation to students at the Harrow School in 1941: "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

Never?

Jesus recommended yielding to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy when he said that if you've got 10,000 men and your opponent has 20,000, seek peace (Luke 14:31-32). That's conditional surrender.

He commanded his disciples to give up preaching the gospel when they encountered hostility: "When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another" (Matthew 10:23).

He commanded his followers to give up on people who continually rejected the grace of church discipline: "Treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector" (Matthew 18:17).

And the Apostle Paul commanded giving up on a marriage when an unbeliever abandons the Christian partner: "If the unbeliever leaves, let him do so" - 1 Corinthians 7:15 (The Greek verb is imperative - it is literally a command to let go.)

So not all perseverance is good - not even perseverance in a self-denying cause. Perseverance that results in disobedience to God's Word is simple stubbornness, and must not be allowed to flaunt itself as virtue.

But perseverance that is neither disobedient nor foolish remains a worthy goal. I have been asked once or twice if, because of grave family sorrow, I would like to take a leave of absence from (temporarily give up on?) the ministry. It is a fair question, but my answer (which I hope springs from perseverance rather than stubbornness) is, "Absolutely not." I am commissioned by God to peach the Word "in season and out of season" (2 Timothy 4:2) - and though now the season is one of hurricanes, my house should be able to stand if it is built on the rock and made of stone. How dare I flee inland now? What kind of testimony would that be? If ever there were an hour to stand my ground, this is it.

At the same time, I acknowledge that "standing one's ground" is only good when God commands it. May God give all of us the grace to persevere in that to which he calls us - and the wisdom to know when we are merely behaving like stubborn fools.