In my house we play a brutal game called tackle. Once you
are on the ground it’s a no hold bar game of wrestling. I did this when we just
had Nevaeh, she tackled me at the age of two and separated two of my ribs. Now
when we play, I have all four kids jump on me and drag me to the ground. It’s
awesome! Usually once I get a kid pinned to the ground, I make them say
something, like “Say mommy is beautiful” or “Say I smell like dirty socks!” All
the kids are quick to answer this, except Ty. Ty won’t give up, he was done
this until he was crying after about 15 minutes. He doesn’t give up and is
afraid of nothing. I love Ty’s resistance. He won’t give up. In life we don’t
like to give up.
Giving up is not a quality people want. We don’t back down
from situations, we want to overcome. We want to handle it on our own; we want
to be the hero, the one who can do things on our own. We want to push ourselves
beyond belief and come out stronger in the end. Sometimes what we do isn’t the
best thing. Sometimes we are called to give in.
Everyday I look and try to apply some scripture to my life.
Since my lost post I have been reading through Galatians 1:11-24.
Some scripture I process it and feel like God is telling me
something immediately. Other times, I don’t, so I continue to read the same
scripture over. So since my last post I have contemplated this section of
scripture. The story of Paul’s life is so intriguing to me. He was a successful
religious leader and was known for persecuting Christians. He was moving up the
chain of command pretty quickly. God then changed him and the same people he
focus on proving wrong and hurting to the point of killing them. People heard
this in Galatians 1:23…”The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the
faith he once tried to destroy.”
Paul was a successful person in his view, yet soon he gave
in. God called him and Paul gave in. Galatians 1:16… “To reveal his Son in me
so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to
consult any human being.” He felt such a calling by God, he didn’t consult
others. He knew what mission God gave him, he went out and did it. Paul could
have been an extremely successful religious leader, but God called him to a
different ministry. He gave in. He didn’t look back. He didn’t look at who or
what happened or what he gave up. He was called to preach and share the love of
Jesus to other people. The same Jesus he was trying to destroy other followers.
Paul gave in and didn’t look back. Giving in is not a weakness.
For years Paul didn’t consult with other people. He didn’t
go and visit with the apostles. He had his vision from God and did it. He gave
in and went all in. I love this quality about Paul. He felt called by God to do
this will and didn’t think of people around him. Paul went all out and it
started with giving in.
What do you need to give in? Get the noise out, get the
voices out of your head that hold you down. What do you feel called to do? Ty
doesn’t give in and in some aspects of life that will help him out greatly, but
in other aspects of life it will hurt him.
What do you need to give into? What do you need to change in
your life? One of the greatest changes I ever did was give up on my old way of
life and give my life to Jesus. The next move was being a year away from being
a full time sports writer and going into ministry instead. I have no regrets
for what God called me too. Giving in is not always a bad thing, it worked for
me and even more it worked for Paul. Giving in might be the smartest decision of your life.
Have a great day.
