<p>4:1 <i>Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we do not give up- </i>The emphasis is on<i> this</i> kind of ministry. Thenot giving up is in proportion to the ministry of the Spirit just spoken of ever increasing in glory, whereas the Mosaic ministry fades away. What keeps any ministry going, what stops us all from giving up, is the Spirit- which is the dynamic of our service. All talk of burnout, lack of staying power or disillusion is an indicator that the Spirit was never really there in the ministry. The constant obtaining of mercy in response to our ongoing sins is what energizes us to not give up. Paul seems to ascribe his own unflagging zeal for preaching to his experience of God's gracious forgiveness of him. And further, he speaks in the third person, suggesting that his fellow preachers had a like motivation: &quot;Therefore, seeing we have this ministry (of preaching), <i>as we have received mercy</i>, we faint not&quot; (2 Cor. 4:1). The Greek suggests that as we have received mercy, so we have received the ministry- to share that mercy to others. Our witness to the Gospel and our ministry of caring for others are motivated by our own awareness of having received grace personally. Any other motivation simply isn&rsquo;t enough to inspire us to keep on keeping on. See on :14. &quot;We do not give up&quot; is repeated in :16, where it is cited as an outworking of living under grace and is part of our inward man being progressively renewed daily. Giving up, fading away, is a common experience of many religious people including Christians. The parable of the sower speaks of it. It is only the involvement with the Spirit which will stop this happening in real terms- for even if someone maintains their religious commitment to attending meetings, the question is whether we are spiritually alive within. And that is the realm of the Spirit.</p>