Where’s the Towel?

Have you ever reached the end of an endeavor and felt like it was simply time to throw in the towel?

What does that even mean? Idiomatic research suggests it is a boxing term where a coach or team member would toss a towel into the ring indicating their fighter has been defeated. Maybe the fighter was out cold, or woozy or plainly incapable of making a rational decision. So, someone steps up and says, “It’s over…”

What do you do? A decision has been made to quit. Turn your back on the future and return to some safe corner, nursing your wounds, and deciding what your next course of action.

We’ve all reached time periods like this where we’ve worked a job as long as we could on some task and eventually we throw our hands up in despair and quit. A relationship failed for reasons we cannot describe. We’ve watched others slough off their duties until they reach a point where a turn-around is the only solution… Yes, even loved ones have gone further afield from where they were raised, and where you know they should be… Drugs. Alcohol. Crime. Bad choices are everywhere.

We’ve All Been There

Part of the problem is that we feel we are in this fight of our life all alone.

But someone, somewhere, cries out that defeat is not an option, so you do something you’ve read about. You draw a line in the sand, throw out an anchor, challenge yourself to not give up. You put the negative voices behind you and face the battle line. “Victory is just around the corner! Come on! Let’s fight on!”

Even if immediate victory is not the expected win, there is something about having someone challenge us to fight on! Don’t give up. Never quit. Persevere till the end. There is a better day!

It’s not the time to throw in the towel…either by yourself, a team member, or your coach. If ever there was a time to stand and fight, this is that time. In my heart of hearts, mind and spirit, body, and life, there is something flaring to this moment.

This is not the time to quit!

What we all need is for someone to believe in us, and believe in the cause. Perhaps someone who has been where you are, and can prove there is a better end to the story. Or someone fighting along your side exuding confidence.

What you don’t need is someone urging you to quit! You need some positive reinforcement! You need a role model, mentor, or coach. Maybe you need a drill sergeant barking in your ear.

Or maybe you need that quiet internal voice of God, reciting His Word to your heart when it seems like you’ve reached the end of your rope.

Natural or Spiritual, The Battle is On!

The writer of Hebrews, from the Message translation. My apologies if it’s a little lengthy, but when you read this you will not need to read anything else from me.

Do you see what this means–all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on?
It means we’d better get on with it.
Strip down, start running–and never quit!
No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins.

Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in.
Study how he did it.
Because he never lost sight of where he was headed–that exhilarating finish in and with God–he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever.
And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.

When you find yourselves flagging in your faith,
o over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through.
That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through–all that bloodshed!

So don’t feel sorry for yourselves.
Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?
My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either.
It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects.

God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out.
He’s treating you as dear children.
This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children.
Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves.
Would you prefer an irresponsible God?
We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live?
While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them.

But God is doing what is best for us,
training us to live God’s holy best.
At the time, discipline isn’t much fun.
It always feels like it’s going against the grain.
Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

So don’t sit around on your hands!
No more dragging your feet!
Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall,
so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle.

Help each other out.
And run for it!
Work at getting along with each other and with God.
Otherwise you’ll never get so much as a glimpse of God.
Make sure no one gets left out of God’s generosity.
Keep a sharp eye out for weeds of bitter discontent.
A thistle or two gone to seed can ruin a whole garden in no time.

Watch out for the Esau syndrome:
trading away God’s lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite.
You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God’s blessing–but by then it was too late, tears or no tears.

Unlike your ancestors, you didn’t come to Mount Sinai–all that volcanic blaze and earthshaking rumble– to hear God speak.
The earsplitting words and soul-shaking message
terrified them and they begged him to stop.
When they heard the words–
“If an animal touches the Mountain, it’s as good as dead”–
they were afraid to move.
Even Moses was terrified.
No, that’s not your experience at all.

You’ve come to Mount Zion, the city where the living God resides.
The invisible Jerusalem is populated by throngs of festive angels and Christian citizens.
It is the city where God is Judge, with judgments that make us just.
You’ve come to Jesus, who presents us with a new covenant, a fresh charter from God. He is the Mediator of this covenant.
The murder of Jesus, unlike Abel’s–a homicide that cried out for vengeance–became a proclamation of grace.

So don’t turn a deaf ear to these gracious words.
If those who ignored earthly warnings didn’t get away with it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly warnings?
His voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time–he’s told us this quite plainly–he’ll also rock the heavens:
“One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern.”
The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.

Do you see what we’ve got?
An unshakable kingdom!
And do you see how thankful we must be?
Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God.

For God is not an indifferent bystander.
He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn,
and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed.
God himself is Fire!
(Hebrews 12:1-29 MSG)