…Making Your Life Count with Dr Humphrey Mutiti
“BRETHREN, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 KJV
Attaining a goal is an incredibly exhilarating thing. If you’re flirting with the idea of giving up, you could be throwing away your best future.
We must know that there is going to be anxiety about uncertainty and fear about failing, we ought to push ourselves to keep going. After all, you’ll never know how close you are to succeeding if you quit now. Dale Carnegie once said, “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”
Persistent people embark on their success where others quit. Be known as a person of persistence and endurance. One person with commitment, persistence, and endurance will accomplish more than a thousand people with interest alone. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
(Hebrews 12:1 KJV). The more diligently we work, the harder it is to quit. Persistence is a habit, so is quitting. Martin Luther King Jr. Once asserted, “If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”
Never worry about how much money, ability, or equipment you start with; just begin with a thousand-dollars’ worth of determination. It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with what you have that makes all the difference. Many people eagerly begin “the good fight of faith,” but they forget to add patience, persistence, and endurance to their enthusiasm. Josh Billings once said, “Consider the postage stamp. Its usefulness consists of the ability to stick to something until it gets there.” We too ought to stick to our dreams until they come to pass.
In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (15:58 NKJV). Peter tells us, “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless” (2 Peter 3:14 NKJV). And the wise Solomon points out, “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings” (Prov. 22:29 KJV).
The Chinese plant a tree called the Chinese Bamboo. During the first four years, they water and fertilize the plant with ostensibly little or no results. Then the fifth year, they again apply water and fertilizer-and in five weeks the tree grows ninety feet in height! This begs the question, did the Chinese Bamboo tree grow ninety feet in five weeks or five years? The answer is, it grew ninety feet in five years. If at any time during those five years the people had stopped watering and fertilizing the tree, it would have died.
Many times our dreams and plans appear to be faltering. We are persuaded to give up and quit trying. Instead, let’s continue to water and fertilize those dreams and plans, nurturing the seeds of the vision God has placed within us. We know that if we do not quit, if we display perseverance and endurance, we will also reap a harvest (Gal. 6:9).
In closing, Charles Haddon Spurgeon once asserted, “By perseverance, the snail reached the ark.” Let’s be like that snail. Keep pursuing your dream. Don’t quit. Keep moving forward and one day you will walk in your dream.
The author, Dr. Humphrey Mutiti is a Pastor, conference speaker, instructor, and lecturer at Great Commission Theological Institute, an author of several books, has a Ph.D. Doctorate in Theology, a Ph.D. Doctorate in Ministry and a student in the school of law.
