Quittin' Time or Grittin' Time: Three Great Reasons to Grit

I admit I have a “don’t care” gene that has sometimes served me well. There have been other times it has not served me well. I recently had a conversation where someone told me something someone had said about me that was an openly hostile statement. The person who told me was sure to clarify that they knew who had made the statement and that I should consider the source since the person was typically hostile by nature. But they felt like I should know.

Honestly, it did not surprise me that someone was openly hostile toward me. I have learned that if you are going to do anything significant in this world, regardless of what it is, there will always be someone who opposes you. There will always be problems to solve and obstacles to get through, and there will always be people who want to see you fail. And if you are a Christian, you can add to that the further resistance of spiritual warfare because the devil wants nothing less than your complete demise.

Nevertheless, when circumstances, obstacles, and people create resistance to us, it can be easy to want to simply give up. And sometimes, giving up can even seem like a wise decision. In the last blog, I discussed that life is often full of opportunities to quit or to grit. And sometimes, both options can be justified as wise decisions. I gave you four good reasons to quit. But in this blog, let’s talk about the other option. How do you know when it’s grittin’ time instead of quittin’ time? 

I think there are three great reasons to grit. Remember, these points are not exhaustive but only serve as an excellent place to start when evaluating whether you should decide to keep going.

1 - When you know you are right where God put you, it’s time to grit.

You might notice that I began both “reasons to quit” and “reasons to grit” with a consideration of the will of God for your life. This choice is not unintentional. Searching our hearts for direction from the Lord is crucial for decisions about staying in or leaving a situation. I think many people make the mistake of thinking that trouble and trials indicate that one is out of God’s will. But opposition is not necessarily a sign that you should quit. Often, the will of God includes opposition. The path of following Christ is more frequently marked by resistance rather than smooth sailing. If you are not experiencing opposition, there is a greater chance that you are not moving forward at all than there is a chance that you are in God’s will.

So, when faced with the choice to quit or grit, search out God’s will about your options. Read Scripture and listen to God’s voice through His words. Pray and ask God what His will is about the choice, and then be quiet and listen for His direction in your heart. 

2 - If your major goals have not changed and the path you are on is the clear way to get there, then it’s time to grit.

This one also made the list of good reasons to quit. I want to emphasize it again because it is just as important from this perspective. There are two implied questions embedded in this reason. Thinking about whether the choice to quit or to grit will move you toward a major goal means you have taken the time to seek out and clarify your major goals. And that you have taken the crucial step of mapping out a path to achieve those goals. If you have yet to go through the intentional goal-setting process, you will struggle to persist and persevere through opposition.

However, if you know your goals and have measurable and reasonable steps to reach them, questions about when it is grittin’ time will become more evident. If persevering through hardships is in line with your goals, deciding to stay in the fight will become easier. Deciding to stay is half the battle of enduring.

3 - When you want to know if it’s grittin’ time, ask yourself: “Am I being motivated by my desire for comfort and convenience or by love for God and others?”

A well-worn adage says, “Don’t give up a long-term goal based on a short-term emotion.” Sometimes, it is fatigue that makes quitting seem like a good option. But in that case, the answer is not quitting; it’s resting. Sometimes, it is a feeling of being overwhelmed by the number of things you need to do to keep going that makes you want to quit. But in that case, the answer is not quitting; it’s prioritizing. Sometimes, it is a feeling of discouragement, a sense that you’re not making progress or will never reach your goals, that makes you feel like quitting. But in that case, the answer is not quitting but instead moving from a self-centered focus to a focus on loving God and loving others.

In other words, I’m saying that the desire to quit often comes from focusing only on yourself. If you focus on how you feel when dealing with opposition, you will just want to stop feeling tired, overwhelmed, and discouraged. But when you know you are in God’s plan, and your goals are clearly defined, you will be able to shift your focus away from yourself and recognize how your efforts and work help other people, how you are loving others through your sacrifice, and how you are loving God through your obedience. Moving away from self-centered thinking will make the choice to grit more convincing than the choice to quit.

So, is it grittin’ time? If you’ve chosen to grit instead of quit, maybe you’d like to know how to follow through on that choice. I’d like to tackle that in the next blog and give you some practical things to do to grit and not quit.