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Never, Never, Never, Never give in
Mary Pickford, a famous actress back in the days of silent pictures,
once said, "If you have made mistakes...there is always another chance for
you...you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing
we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down."She may or may not have been familiar with the inspired words of
Solomon, but she certainly expressed the truth of what that wise man once said:
"For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the
wicked are brought down by calamity."Failure is not determined by falling down but by staying down. Dan
Quale, former vice president of the United States, said, "The question in life
is not whether you get knocked down. You will. The question is, are you
ready to get back up and fight for what you believe in?"When we first started out trying to sell insurance by making cold
calls, we soon learned that out of ten calls we would be rejected nine times.
Others failed because they gave up after the seventh or eighth consecutive
turn down.Ted Williams was a famous baseball player who recently died. He was
known as a great hitter and one of the few who ever had a batting average of
over 400 for a season. This record still meant that he was put out six out of
every ten times he came to bat in his most successful year in the major
leagues.
He was famous because he kept swinging at the ball even though he
missed it more times than he hit it.On our walk to the kingdom, we can be sure that we will fall. We will
be rejected; we will be knocked down over and over again. King Solomon's
exhortation to us is to keep getting back up again. Even people in the
world such as Mary Pickford, Dan Quale and Ted Williams agree with him.Why do we allow the set backs we encounter to get us down? We learn
from everyday life as well as the inspired scriptures that success only
comes through perseverance, by keeping on keeping on and getting up each time
we are knocked down. As Mary Pickford said, "Failure is not the falling
down, but the staying down."Winston Churchill is well known for many wise sayings, but his opinion
on this subject is one of his best known quotes. He said, "Never give in!
Never, never, never, never give in. Never -- in anything great or
small, large or petty -- never give in except to convictions of honor and good
sense."Let us have the good sense, the godly sense, to persevere to the end.
The Lord Jesus told us in one of his parables to "Occupy till I come." In
the parable, the faithful servants did not give up. They increased that
which the Lord had entrusted to their care while awaiting his return; and as
a result the Lord upon his return said unto them, "Well done, thou good
and faithful servants: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will
make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."At times we all face opposition and defeat when we can be knocked down
but not out. Let us keep getting up again by following the example of the
faithful who have gone before. Paul encourages us as he shares with us
how he overcame the troubles that faced him. He said, "We are hard pressed
on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;... Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is
perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the
things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."Robert J. Lloyd