I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency]. – Philippians 4:13, AMP

Andy’s father took a job at a hand-loom weaving factory in order to support his family. Andy’s father also procured a position as a bobbin boy for young Andy, who was thirteen at the time.  In Winter, Andy and his father arose and ate breakfast in the dark, worked all day at the factory, and returned home together after dark.

Soon, Andy was given the chance to work for a competitor where he could earn more pay and take on more responsibility. For his new employer, he had to run a small steam-engine and to fire the boiler in the cellar of the bobbin factory.  Andy wrote the following about his experience:

It was too much for me. I found myself night after night, sitting up in bed trying the steam gauges, fearing at one time that the steam was too low and that the workers above would complain that they had not power enough, and at another time that the steam was too high and that the boiler might burst.*

Despite the pressures and worries of the job, young Andy determined to never give up and to wait patiently for a better opportunity to come.  As Andy reported:

My hopes were high, and I looked every day for some change to take place. What it was to be I knew not, but that it would come I felt certain if I kept on. Besides, at this date I was not beyond asking myself what Wallace (Andy’s hero, William Wallace of Scotland) would have done and what a Scotsman ought to do. Of one thing I was sure, he ought never to give up.*

Young Andy grew up to be Andrew Carnegie, one of the wealthiest men and one of the most prolific philanthropists in American history.

When you read Andrew Carnegie’s biography, one thing that stands out about his character is that he just did not give up. When faced with tough obstacles, his determination was equally tough, and quitting was never an option. Although I don’t believe Carnegie was a saved man, his character trait of determination is one that every Christian should emulate.

Nowhere in the Bible will you find God teaching his children to be quitters. Instead, He teaches them to be go-getters. “Go get the Promised Land,” He told the Israelites in the Old Testament. “Go get some disciples,” He told the early church in the New Testament. And through both the Old and the New Testaments, He tells us today to “go” and live the life He would have us to live, obeying His commands and trusting in Him for our provision.

Quitting is habit-forming. When you quit once in a tough situation, it becomes easier to quit again and again. Pressing on is habit-forming, too. Once you decide not to quit in a tough situation, you’ll be able to plow through the next tough situation a little more easily. Oh, the situation may not be easier, but the choice to stay the course and trust God will.

God doesn’t adopt people into His family to be quitters. He adopts them into His family to be doers.

What are you? A quitter or a doer?

*Quotes are Excerpts From: Carnegie, Andrew. “Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie.” iBooks.

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