14 November | Youth
«I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.» Philippians 3:14
Have you ever gone on an excursion to climb a mountain? If your answer is yes, you will agree with me that one of the main requirements for this adventure is perseverance. In general, those who are not physically prepared give up on the venture in the first steps.
I wonder what the world would be like today if some people had given up on their ideals. Take, for ex-ample, the life of Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), the self-taught American who registered more than a thousand patents, all the result of curiosity, persistence, and hard work. As a child, his teacher considered him “too dumb to learn anything.”
However, Edison overcame his limitations and was responsible for inventions that revolutionized the world, such as the movie camera, the electric car battery, the phonograph (which was a device for record-ing and reproducing sounds), the mimeograph (one of the first serial copy instruments) and, of course, the well-known incandescent light bulb. Some historians claim that the invention of the light bulb occurred after more than a thousand attempts.
Near his death, Edison was interviewed by a journalist who asked him: “What is the secret of your success?” And his reply was, “Never give up. Genius is just 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”
Other people also did not give up on their ideals and carved their names in history: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not give up fighting against racial prejudice and won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Akio Morita was considered a fiasco at the beginning of his career, but he persisted and transformed Sony into a multibillion-dollar company. The painter Claude Monet had his art mocked and rejected by the public of his time, but he did not give up and today he is considered the “prince of impressionism.”
For the apostle Paul, the secret of success consists in continuing with our eyes fixed on the goal, on the prize that Christ promised to the faithful. Heaven is the top of the Christian’s journey. Just as a competitor should not take his eyes off the goal because of applause or criticism, Christians need to keep their gaze continually on Jesus. Do this. No matter what, do not give up!