As much as is wrong with the church today, there are still things that are good and true. “I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” [Rev 3:7-13]
God has always had a remnant, faithful believers who no matter the cost remained genuine before Him. He had them in the Old Testament, and He has them in the New. While the church may seem shaky as a whole, there are those who still have a “little power” and will use that to stay strong in the Gospel and true to the Word no matter the cost.
The church at Philadelphia represents people who do not quit. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4 about the hardships and afflictions that he and his companions had suffered: “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh.”
Despite all that he says twice, “we do not give up.” [v4, 16]
Beloved, no matter what we see happening in our world today, we cannot give up. If we do, who is left to proclaim hope?
Athletes speak of “leaving it all on the field.” They mean giving every ounce of strength, courage, and fight on their fields of play. It speaks of doing what they have to do with never a thought of quitting, no matter how tough the opposition, or how difficult the course. Beloved, as the Church of Christ Jesus, we need that same attitude. We need to leave it all on our field of play. I want to hear the LORD of Glory tell me one day – “you did not give up!”
