(~) Thinking about quitting?

Warning: You are about the enter the “pun zone.” Enter at your own risk:

My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned because I couldn’t concentrate.

Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn’t hack it, so they gave me the axe.

After that I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn’t suited for it. Mainly because it was a so-so job.

Next I tried working in a muffler factory but that was exhausting.

I wanted to be a barber, but I just couldn’t cut it.

Then I tried to be a chef — figured it would add a little spice to my life but I just didn’t have the thyme.

My best job was being a musician, but eventually I found I wasn’t noteworthy.

I studied a long time to become a doctor, but I didn’t have any patients.

Next was a job in a shoe factory; I tried but I just didn’t fit in.

I became a professional fisherman, but discovered that I couldn’t live on my net income.

I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining.

I got a job at a zoo feeding giraffes but I was fired because I wasn’t up to it.

So then I got a job in a gymnasium, but they said I wasn’t fit for the job.

After many years of trying to find steady work I finally got a job as a historian until I realized there was no future in it.

My last job was working at Starbucks, but I had to quit because it was always the same old grind.

Seriously, though, why do people quit? Why do some people quit their jobs? Even more importantly, why do some Christians quit following Christ?

I have a great love for the book of Hebrews because it addresses that very question. It is written to a group of Hebrew Christians who were considering leaving Christ and going back to Judaism. Why? There are several reasons that surface in the letter.

Some apparently missed the spectacular pageantry of Judaism (“Where’s your temple? Where’s your high priest?”). Others were influenced by family and friends who regarded them as outcasts when they embraced Christianity (Heb. 10:32).

Still others were apparently considering quitting because they were tired. Tired? Yes, tired. The road of Christianity is a long one, and sometimes difficult. There are times we have all considered just sitting down and giving up.

I remember when I was a boy and my family would go to the Blue Ridge Mountains to camp and hike. Hiking was great fun. We would walk down a waterfall and I was full of energy (“Don’t walk so slow! Come on, let’s go!”). But after several miles of hiking, coming back was a different story (“I can’t walk another step. Just go on without me and leave me here by this rock to die!”).

The same thing can happen spiritually. That’s why the book of Hebrews is full of admonitions to “hang in there”.

“…Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us….lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls…..Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.” (Hebrews 12:1,3,12)

Ready to quit? Don’t think you can take even one more step? Hang in there. Don’t give up now. Home is just around the corner.

Have a great day!

Alan Smith