People often think of money or costly possessions when they think of hidden treasures. However, I believe we are all a treasure in God’s eyes, and there are treasures within all of us that God wants to be uncovered. We all possess God given talents, gifts, abilities along with the potential for inner character. These things must often be discovered and developed in order to become the treasures that bless the world as God intends. My goal is to move people closer to the full measure of God’s intended destiny for their lives by supplying information that will help them to discover and develop the treasures that God has put within them.

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What If You Quit?

He started out with a record of 1 win and 13 losses in 1969 which was his first year as a coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. His next two seasons were also losing seasons as head coach over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Chuck Noll was perhaps the winningest coach in the NFL during the decade of the 1970’s as his team won four Super Bowls including 1974, 1975, 1978 and 1979. Of course this is a fabulous accomplishment, but remember it started out with great difficulty and loss after loss after loss. What if he had quit, or the owners of the Steelers had quit on him? One of the greatest coaches in NFL history would have never had the dominating impact on football that he had.

None of Them had it Easy

We as Christians may think at times that if we are going through difficulties that God must be mad at us, or that we are out of his will because of the difficulties we are facing.  Even after reading the book of Job, there are people who believe that Job was in sin because he admitted that what he had feared had come upon him. These people believe that if Job had not been so fearful, he wouldn’t have gone through his trials. But I want to ask you, can you think of any Biblical character who always had it good and always had it easy? I can’t.

I don’t want to condition people to expect hardship and difficulty from God, but in one way or another, we do end up in difficult circumstance in life, and our faith, attitude, and perspective will either give us the strength to go through those times or leave us stuck in our difficulties. It’s during our difficulties that we cry out to God and look to him for deliverance. We would like this to happen with the snap of our fingers, but coming out of a difficult time is often a process. Nonetheless, when I read the Bible, I see God bringing people out of difficulties whether it happens quickly or slowly.

What if they Had Quit?

I now go back to the question I asked in regard to Chuck Noll’s seasons where it was hard and he wasn’t winning, the question being, what if he had quit? What if others gave up on him? History would be much different. In fact, all through history we can ask the same thing about many accomplishments that would have never occurred if people quit.

If we look at the Bible, what if Noah had given up on building the arc? What if Abraham had given up on God’s promise to give him a son Isaac? Recall that God’s promises to bless all nations and to send a savior (Jesus) came through Isaac. Let me continue with the what ifs? What if Moses had given up when Pharaoh refused to let the Hebrew people go? What if the Israelites had quit when being pursued by the Egyptians and decided that God had changed his mind about freeing them? What if Joshua and the Israelites had quit after a few days of walking around Jericho? What if David had quit when he saw how big Goliath was? What if Jonah had quit when he was in the belly of a whale instead of crying out to God for deliverance. What if Gideon had quit when he was down to only 300 fighting men? What if Jesus had quit his ministry when the people from his home town in Nazareth rejected him and wanted to kill him? What if Jesus quit when he knew he was going to the cross because he knew the suffering would be too great? If you consider the what ifs, not only would history be different, but our lives would be very different today if people would have given up.

Don’t Quit

Is there something God has called you to do? Has it been hard? Are there people making you think that God isn’t in it or it would be easier?  Remind yourself that there are others who have been through the same thing and don’t quit.