You can survive it – by the grace of God! Quitter’s Day is today, the resolution apocalypse, observed each year on the second Friday of the year. It is the day by which “people are most likely to throw in the towel on their resolutions."1 You committed to doing more for God, such as more praying, Bible reading, etc., or less for yourself, such as less screen time.2
But now, you realize as work or school schedules have resumed - what seemed easier over the holidays is more costly. It is hard to maintain discipline and even harder to maintain spiritual discipline. So, there is a plethora of worldly advice for staying on track, like making “bite-size goals” and adopting a “growth mindset.”
Blessed By Knowing You Cannot Make It!
But the better and more effective way is to look for spiritual help. So, consider this promise from Jesus and two inspiring examples of not quitting. Jesus begins his Sermon on the Mount with his first revolutionary Beatitude, which contains an astonishing promise: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3 ESV).
The real difference between why one believer rises to pray early in the morning (or stays up late to pray) and another does not pray at all lies in whether they are desperate. God saved us by grace, apart from our efforts, when we confessed our inability and opposition to the things of God. Every Christian knows that, but growing Christians never forget that we must ask for our daily bread (Matthew 6:11), spiritually as well as physically.
John MacArthur writes if we remember our spiritually desperate state, “we will spend much time in prayer. Just as the physical beggar begs for physical sustenance, the spiritual beggar begs for spiritual. We will knock often at heaven's gate because we are always in need. Like Jacob wrestling with the angel, we will not let go until we are blessed.”3 Since we cannot trust intuition (Proverbs 3:5-6), we must constantly lean on God, which “entails meditating on his word, hiding that word in your heart, learning to think God’s thoughts after him—precisely so that you do not lean on your understanding.”4
Blessed by Examples of Spiritual Stamina
God planned for the “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) to encourage us to run the race of faith with “endurance.” And ever since the closing of the pages of Scripture, we have amazing records of brothers and sisters who have kept going – seeking the Lord daily against the odds. I keep a file of such wonderful examples to encourage myself. Here are just two to help you keep going.
Nadine Hammonds – Memorizing Against All Odds
Imagine memorizing the whole New Testament! That is a goal that most of us will not reach. But it is possible – if you are spiritually needy enough! Nadine Hammonds did it – while blind! How is that possible? She recognized that everyone had obstacles and kept going without quitting: “Everybody has something to deal with, and being sightless doesn’t have anything to do with memorizing. I learn with my brain, not my eyes!” In the process, reading by touch she wore out her braille Bible: “I’m on my second set.”5 Having finished, she continued memorizing. At the time of the writing of the article in 2000, she had also hidden the Book of Ruth and 17 other Old Testament chapters in her heart.
William McPherson – Reading with His …
William, an ungodly and impatient man, resisted the Gospel. Due to his impatience, it took rushing with a stick of lit dynamite to save him. Left without hands or eyesight, this spiritually and physically broken man, saved by the grace of God, regretted that he could now never read God’s Word.6 But God…provided a means for William to “read,” which he enthusiastically embraced. Ray Sumner recounts his story in his terrific little book, The Wonder of the Word of God:
Someone told him of a woman in the British Isles who had learned to read the raised Braille type with her lips. He ordered portions of the Scriptures in Braille for himself, but upon their arrival, he was chagrined to discover that the explosion had so deadened the nerves in his lips that no sense of touch remained.
Stooping to carefully kiss the Book, somehow his tongue touched the copy and he realized the possibility of reading the raised type in that manner. A teacher was hastily summoned, and the young Christian actually learned to read the raised characters by running his tongue along them. When I read the account, that enthusiastic disciple of our Redeemer had gone through the Bible completely four times—and a number of the books he had read over and over again.7
By Grace, Keep Going or Restart!
Are you succeeding in your 2025 quiet time commitments? Way to go! Keep going, and remember to pray for your family and church members to succeed in their commitments. But if you are struggling, ask God to increase your hunger for his word and to lighten your schedule. He can do either or both according to his will. Be assured that if you ask for help, God will help you to accomplish all that he has planned for you to do for him and with him!
If you have fallen behind or quit, just restart. Satan loves to place doubts and provoke shame for any failure, but not your loving heavenly Father. Just whisper a prayer of repentance and start again. Commit to praying each day and satisfying your renewed spiritual hunger with “every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
1 Alexa Mikhail, “Today Is ‘Quitter’s Day,’ When Most People Give Up on Their New Year’s Resolutions. Here Are 3 Ways to Restart Yours,” Fortune 12 Jan., 2024 https://fortune.com/well/article/quitters-day-new-years-resolutions-how-to-restart/
2 Ibid.
3 J.F. MacArthur, Jr. Matthew, vol 1. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 150.
4 D.A. Carson, For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word (Crossway Books, 1998), 101.
5 Polly House, “Met the (Blind) Woman Who Has Memorized the New Testament!” Baptist Press, 16 Mar., 2000. https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/meet-the-blind-woman-who-memorized-the-new-testament/
6 Kathy Gallaty, “How Much Do You Cherish God’s Word?” Lifeway, 22 Mar. 2019, https://research.lifeway.com/2019/03/22/how-much-do-you-cherish-gods-word/
7 Robert L. Sumner, The Wonder of the Word of God (Ingleside, TX: Biblical Evangelism Press, 1969), 12.
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