I walked into the chapel service at Talbot yesterday, guess who was the speaker??? Michael Chang! He is currently a MA student here at Talbot. Since I am a sports nut and specially love tennis I spent sometime personally chatting with Michael after the chapel service. If I have to summarize Michael’s sermon in few words he talked about “Perseverance” and “Finishing Well”. Here is a story he shared I thought will help us all understand the power of perseverance. In the fourth round of French open in 1989, he faced the World No. 1 and three-time former champion Ivan Lendl. Conventional wisdom made Lendl heavy favorite to win the match against the 17-year-old Chang. As expected Lendl comfortably took the first two sets 6-4, 6-4, and then broke Chang’s serve in the opening game of the third set.
At this point Chang’s fight-back began. He broke back immediately and went on to claim the third set 6-3. But by the end of the 4th set Michael had severe cramps and was hurting in his heals. The pain was so severe that when he was down 2-1 in the fifth set, he started walking to the chair empire to quit the game. He was very young, just 17 and even if he quit at that stage of the match, he will be applauded for his valiant fight against the then world number one Ivan Lendl. As he was walking to the empire, Michael felt that the Holy Spirit was prompting him not to quit. Michael said “Lord I am hurting so much I am unable to run and it is unlikely that I will win this match”. The Lord said to him “Michael it is not about winning or losing this match, it is about finishing well”.
It is not about winning or losing this match, it is about finishing well.
I do not know of any great man or woman who did not struggle with this temptation of quitting. Almost all success stories have one thing in common; they have overcome the temptation to give up or quit, they surpassed many hurdles. I cannot think of a better example than Thomas Edison who tried thousands of ideas that did not work before he came up with the brilliant idea of a light bulb and this is what he had to say to his critics about his unsuccessful attempts “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”. I just cannot believe how someone can have such a determination and perseverance. Especially for us who live in this world of instant gratification, patience and perseverance are totally lost virtues. We cannot wait for results and we cannot hang in there if we do not see something happening.
Almost all success stories have one thing in common; they have overcome the temptation to give up or quit.
Since we are so used to quick results, we also tend to be the ones who will quit quickly. One important thing we need to understand is that quitting can soon become a habit. If Thomas Edison quit when he felt the pressure of failure, no one would have blamed him for quitting, but we would all be lighting our lamps and candles every night. Here is an observation; the desire to quit or give up is usually the strongest the first time. And what happens in the future depends on how we respond to this temptation first time. Once we quit, it becomes easier to quit the next time and slowly it becomes a habit and we tend to quit every time we struggle. I am not advocating blind, unevaluated strong headedness, but I do want us to understand that without perseverance we will never finish well.
The apostle Paul writing to Timothy says “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7). How fulfilling life would be if each of us like Paul could say at the end of our journey here on earth “I have finished my race, I have kept my faith”. Well for that to happen we need to develop this virtue of perseverance and not entertain the thought of quitting each time we face a difficult challenge. Thomas Edison says “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” So do not quit when it gets tough, that is exactly when you need to be strong and ask God for his grace to sustain you through the challenge.
Next time you feel like quitting, whether in work, or in a relationship or a project or even in your Christian walk, remember Edison. Oh, I am sorry, if you were a sports nut like me, I guess you were biting your nails to know the results of Michael Chang’s match? Chang won one of the most memorable matches in tennis history 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in four hours and 37 minutes. Chang fell on his knees and broke down in tears at the finish of the match. He went on to beat couple of other great players and beat Stefan Edberg in the finals 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 becoming the youngest male champion in French Open history.
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison
– – Author: Rev. Francis Burgula – –
