Fighting Fear With Faith

Scott McFarland
08/08/21 - Sun AM Worship

Don’t Lose Heart!

Between September 1940 and May 1941, the Germans unleashed a ruthless bombing campaign against England—the Blietzkrieg, or “lightning war.”  Night after night, for periods of days on end, the Germans targeted British industrial factories and cities in an effort to break the will of the British people.  Throughout this 8 month period, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stood steadfast against the Germans, encouraging his people not to give in to the enemy.  Steadily, British air superiority over the Germans increased, and the Germans stopped the bombing.

About 5 months after the bombings stopped, Churchill was invited back to his alma mater, Harrow School, to give an address to the student body.  It would be one of his most famous speeches.  In it, he delivered this famous line: “But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period…of ten months this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Sometimes, when life becomes overwhelming, we need a reminder not to give up.  Churchill gave that reminder to the British people, much like Paul does to the Corinthians in II Corinthians 4:16-18:  “So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

I don’t know what you’re going through right now, but in light of eternity it’s temporary.  If you are in Christ, the hope of resurrection far outweighs the disappointments and difficulties you will experience here.  Don’t lose heart!

                                                                                                                        -Scott McFarland