Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.”
Phil 3:14 NLT 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
We sure do live in a crazy world and at a crazy time. To the young growing up right now this is the only world they have known and many of them believe the lies they are being fed and somehow they think this is, or should be, the norm. It is not the norm people. The world we are living in is evil and hate is around every turn.
Jesus said that in this world we would surely have trouble: John 16:33 NLT: 33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
In considering perseverance we need to think as to why we are having them. Some trials and tribulations simply come from living in this fallen world and are those which are common to man. Some trouble is the distinctive variety that afflicts a child of God living in an unbelieving world. Every day we get up and look around at our world today we see just how far mankind has fallen and it is only going to get worse.
There are trials that are internal. We want to grow in the Lord, but sin can rage within us and its roots are wicked. We need to learn how to get back on track with God, have that hope and grace that grows and grows in us and helps us through all the garbage of the earth that we face. We need to superglue ourselves to the Lord so we can stay strong and get through the troubles in life that we just might face. Each of us face things, but not each of us face the exact same thing. On this earth there is nothing new…but each of us can face different issues, at different times, and we need grab hold of Jesus and hang on because we must make it into glory when our time on earth here is up.
In us is this anchor of hope. We might go down for a season but we can make it back, make it through the problem, and come out victorious. We need hope and we need to hang onto it. Hebrews 6:19 NLT says, 19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. In the midst of any storm of our life we can drop that anchor and stay afloat in the Lord. Our storms will come…of course they will, but Jesus is there for us in the midst of our storms.
Romans 5:2-5 NLT: 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. 3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Oh, if we only would hang onto Jesus whenever something comes into our life to disrupt it. There will be difficulties, pains, sorrows, and stuff we just pray would go away, but when we are rooted in Jesus and take His strength we can make it through anything. Life isn’t always fair and we can all attest to that one. Justice doesn’t always come, people can be mean and hateful, and a myriad of other things…but we can hang onto the Lord no matter what we face in life. He is our anchor, our strength, our hope, and we never have to face our situation without Him. We can weather the storms of life and know that Jesus is at work behind the scene and even if and when we go through these storms of life…we can still find peace in Him in those things. Christ will complete the work He began in us and that will enable us to persevere in our life. We don’t need to give up hope no matter how bad things are around us. We can have hope and make it through.
We are each basically in the race of life. Sometimes the ground is easy to run on, but other times the mountains, the rocks, the valley, the sea, and so on can get in our way. Oh, we want to endure and persevere…but life can take a toll on us, and we just don’t know what or how to make it through the tuff times of life.
Although the words endurance and perseverance may be used interchangeably, perseverance carries the connotation of whole life experience and is active. It is staying power. It gives us a long-term perspective.
We all need to have spiritual and scriptural insight in our life. We need to take our journey, whatever it might be, and stay focused on God and ask Him to help us make it through our life no matter how short or long our life might be. We can’t be short distance runners, we need to take our life seriously and run the race as long-distance runners. Oh, we might have to stop, at times, and get that drink, shake ourself off, get some nourishment…but then we get up again and go and go and go until we make it to the end. We don’t have to come in first…we just need to try, do our best, and cross that finish line. All who cross it are victorious.
Ever started something and wham……………there is that distraction? Of course, you have. Something always seems to come up to get you off your game. This is a race and we all need to stay focused on making it to the end of our race. If we want to persevere then we must make choices. We are truly in the journey of our life and no matter how many bumps and turns we have…we can get back on track, and get back on the road to Jesus.
Do you have a healthy expectation to make it to the end of your day? I do. I have found even in the most difficult times of my life that it was/is Jesus who is there for me even if everyone else was to fall away.
So what do we do? We look at our situation. We look at what we can do and what we can’t do on our own to get through it. We pray and we pray more and we ask God to help get us through it all. Sometimes the very things we face in life for a season are what makes us better even, if at the time, it sure doesn’t seem like it. God is here for us. He loves us. Yet, God will allow certain things to happen in our life…how will we deal with them? Did we do something to cause them? Can we do something to stop them…legally and morally? Do we trust God to help us? God wants you in heaven with Him for all eternity…but He will allow you to choose Him or reject Him. No one can make that choice for you or the godly surely would accept Jesus for you.
I am on my own race of life. It has had some good times and things, but it has had some great challenges as well. In this day and age and at my age…it has had even more. But I know whom to go to (Jesus)…and ask Him to help me to go on no matter what I see. I think the world has gone quite mad/insane. As I look around just my own community…I pray that so many people would just look to the Lord and find strength in Him to make it. The world is not going to get better. The Bible tells us that it will get worse and worse and it will, but no matter how bad it gets we can find Jesus and lean on Him. He won’t turn down people who seek and love Him. Even if you must go through things…you hang in there and you hold onto Jesus.
Now, may the Lord bless you, guide you, draw you to Him, teach you what you need to know, and give you the strength to endure and persevere. God bless you.