Matthew 22:37–40 (CSB)
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands."
A moving story of love and grit is found in one of the worst tragedies of 1988. An earthquake ravaged the northwestern section of Armenia, killing around 25,000 people. In one of the small towns, right after the earthquake, a father hurried to his son's school only to discover that it had been completely destroyed.
The dad immediately climbed on the rubble and started pulling back the huge pieces of broken cement that used to be the walls of his little boy’s school. He remembered that when his son was afraid, he often reassured him with this promise: “No matter what, I'll always be there for you when you need me!”
The dad frantically continued to dig for 8 hours, then 12–24–36 hours. Other broken parents walked away as they wept hopelessly. Some bystanders told the father to go home, saying there was no chance any of the children could still be alive. The dad would simply reply, “I made my son a promise that I'd be there for him anytime he needed me. I must continue to dig.”
Finally, at the 38th hour, as he pulled back a huge piece of rubble, he heard little voices in the darkness. The dad yelled for his son, “Armand!” Then he heard his little boy respond: “Dad, it’s me! Then he added, "I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you'd save me, and when you saved me, they'd be saved. You promised you would always be there for me! You did it, Dad!"
Armand and thirteen other little children had been saved in a tent-like pocket in the rubble. Think about the raw power of that dad's love for his little boy. It was a love that transcended every obstacle, fueled his grit, that gave his blistering hands and aching back the ability not to quit. How could he do this? It’s because he was not digging with his hands but with his very soul.
As a result of his deep love for his son, he had made a promise, and his love and his promise are what powered his grit. He had a love-fueled perseverance that would not listen to the negativity around him. His grit was an external manifestation of his internal love that pushed him beyond his normal quitting points. A love that couldn't be broken, snuffed out, or buried under any amount of rubble.
Just like the father's love drove him to dig through the insurmountable wreckage, our love and commitment to Jesus should drive us to dig through the rubble of our doubts, weaknesses, sins, fear, and complacency. A love that is properly ordered and passionately fueled doesn’t just bring behavior modification. No way! We're talking about life transformation! We're talking about what it means to be a new creation in Christ Jesus, reborn from above, and fueled with a love like we've never experienced before. This isn't just a religious platitude; this is a gritty reality that requires a gritty faith.
There are far too many people who are experiencing a superficial kind of faith, but Jesus offers you a supernatural faith. Don't settle for religious rituals when you can experience a relationship that transcends religion itself. Give your heart totally to God above everything else, and when you do, you will experience a love that will redefine your perspective of what it means to love everyone else around you. It will ignite a grit inside of you that won't quit. It will compel you to press on when everyone else quits, to stand firm when others walk away, and to hope when others despair.
So keep seeking first the Kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33), keep praying that your affections for Jesus will be stirred, and never ever quit because God will never quit on you. He loves you beyond your comprehension, and He has given you a Bible full of promises (here are just a few: Deut. 3:16; Isaiah 41:10; Matt. 28:20; Hebrews 13:5; Joshua 1:9; Psalm 23:4; Romans 8:38–39).