Defeated

By Jaime Solis (@jaimexsolis)
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Is it really worth it?
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Before any type of telecommunication existed, runners were assigned to various groups of the military during a war. Runners were not soldiers armed with heavy artillery; they packed light. Their primary objective was to carry very important messages from platoon to platoon. This meant them leaving the safety of shelters and risk having bullets flying overhead. This also meant enemy snipers aiming and shooting at them, in order to make sure the enemy runner never successfully delivered a message.
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All this for a message that was not their own, but of a Commander, giving orders to carry it across the battlefield. They put their lives on the line… for a message.
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Paul, also spent the latter days of his life carrying a message that was not his own. The message belonged to God, his Commander, with the message being that Jesus died for the sins of the world so that all may go to heaven! Because he carried this message and spread it out, he lived in a constant life of turmoil. He was afflicted, he was perplexed, he was persecuted, and he was struck down – was it really worth it? It seems defeating.
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I ask you, in your perplexities, in your persecution, in you being struck down – is saying, “I am a follower of Jesus”, worth it? I think one of our greatest fears is that we lived our lives being faithful to living a life for Jesus, only for it to feel wasted, since feelings of defeat come around more than those of victory.
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Paul though, reveals to us the other side of the hardship, that although he’s experienced affliction, he was not crushed, though he was perplexed, he was not driven to despair, though he was persecuted, he was not forsaken, and though he was struck down, he was not destroyed.
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So, defeated heart, as a runner for the Gospel of Jesus yourself, trust Paul as he revealed the other side of the discouraging days, a truth that he found by being faithful. It IS worth it despite the feelings of defeat, because we’ll find that God has been present to hold us up all along.