The Architect's Plan
Hebrews 13:5(b) tells us that God himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU...."
This is a particularly powerful passage to consider as we take up the subject of perseverance. God is telling us that He will persevere. This assurance follows the admonition to us in Chapter 12 to do the same!
One of the most compelling attributes of God is His absolute commitment to His purposes. The flood is evidence enough that His commitment has indeed been tried, but in every circumstance He perseveres.
The language here is even more dramatic in the Greek. The phrase uses five negatives to say that God will not abandon us. The passage almost defies literal translation but it would be something like, "No, I will by no means leave you; no, neither by no means will I forsake you."
Could God say it more emphatically? His plan and purpose have absolutely committed Him to see His creation through to the end. He won't quit! He will not abandon those who honor Him...EVER!
The words are great but the Scripture gives us much more than a promise. It gives us example after example from the earliest pages. Take a few moments to rehearse His faithfulness to just a few: Job, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, the prophets, the apostles, and on and on. How much evidence do we need?
Beyond that, our own lives are a testimony to God's faithfulness. Most of us have done a pretty lousy job at times. We may have paid a dear price for our lack of obedience, but God was faithful. Wounded and hurt by our own failures, He drew us back and soothed our anguished souls; even though it was Him whom we offended most.
God is not an absentee landlord. He abides with us still and His call to us is to persevere. Many Christians have become convinced that persevering is impossible and have given up the effort. They reason, presumptuously, that God knows they are not perfect, so they cease to strive for perfection (or shall we say holiness?).
Today, let us take His words and make them our commitment to Him!
The Carpenter's Corner
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15:1-5
I urge you to stop and read on through the eleventh verse as we consider this idea of "abiding." The word is a root from which we get the word perseverance so it is important to consider in this context.
God tends to those who abide in Christ by pruning from their lives that which is unfruitful, so that they might be fruitful for His purposes. Christ goes on to say that the branches never bear fruit on their own. Legitimate fruit is born of God alone.
Do we really believe what Jesus says, "...apart from Me you can do nothing?" The Greek word for nothing might literally be translated "abundantly none." We might say, "apart from Christ, you can do nil, zero, zip, nada!"
To be sure, we must be faithful to that which we are called, but the outcome is not in our hands. The problem comes when we believe it is! Convinced that the results are ours, we begin to think, live and act after the ways of the world to achieve the desired results.
The methods in themselves may be legitimate, but the faith is in our effort rather than God's power. When that happens, we have ceased to abide in Him; and, that has serious repercussions on our walk of faith.
Christ is the supreme example of perseverance. Notice His words in the opening phrases of the garden prayer, "I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do." (John 17:4)
He persevered. In spite of the cost, He did not stray from His calling! Many a Christian life has been shipwrecked by attempting to fulfill in the flesh that which was begun in the Spirit. We will continue with that thought as we look at Paul's teaching next.
The Foreman's Forum
In His letter to the Galatians, Paul zeroes in on the importance of perseverance in the gospel of Christ. He writes, "You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:1-3)
The issue before him is circumcision, but the implications go much further. The Galatians had come to faith in Christ, but their Jewish traditions still held them in bondage. Paul makes it clear that they can't have it both ways. Either they will live as those freed from the law by obedience to Christ or they will fall in bondage to the flesh.
It flies in the face of popular Christian teaching today, but in Galatians 5:4, Paul goes as far as to say that those who began in the Spirit but measure their righteousness in terms of the flesh have "fallen from grace." Again, the context is circumcision, but the application is, in my opinion, much broader.
One theme that regularly punctuates Paul's writings is the idea that the works of the flesh can never be an acceptable substitute for the will of God in the life of a Christian. The idea of flesh does not just deal with physical matters; rather, it is a reference to that which is born of the human will.
Paul knew the defeat that living such a life would ultimately bring. His pain at having persecuted the church is obvious from his writing. Yet, he tells us he did it in all good conscience. His conscience was misinformed and influenced by his desire to serve God on the wrong terms: fleshly terms. What grace he found on the road to Damascus!
Once his eyes were opened to gospel of Christ, he could see the working of the flesh in his own life. How he struggled with it! We get a sense of that struggle in Romans 7 and it comes to a glorious resolution in the person of Jesus Christ.
Paul talked of his need for perseverance a number of times: "Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified." (1 Cor. 9:26). He did not live with an illusion that a life of faith could be lived without diligence; neither should we!
The image of boxing he uses here is clear. This is no quixotic tilting at windmills. His experience is real hand to hand combat. His perseverance has eternal consequences and he refuses to let anything hinder him ... including his own will!
That diligence is what brought him to the end of life with these words, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing."
How are we doing? Are we engaging the "good fight of faith," or do we skirt the real battles that force us to depend upon Christ and the strength of His might?
Are we searching for war souvenirs in the strongholds that others have taken in faith, or are we walking point to take the next hill? Those who abide in Christ will regularly find themselves in that position, because that is where He is!
May we not grow faint of heart but steadfastly continue in the faith "once for all delivered to the saints."
The Carpenter's Toolbox
We continue our study of 2 Peter 1:5-8 with a look at the faith supplement before us this month: perseverance. Many have started well in their walk of faith, only to founder due to a lack of perseverance.
Our faith is a pilgrimage and momentary success never assures long-term victory. Living faith demands a vigilance in regard to where and how we are walking. Yesterday's conquest may strengthen our faith, but it will not win the battle before us today. It is like yesterday's manna.
One of the signs of a life that is maturing in Christ is that it is constantly being challenged to climb higher, and it presses on: it perseveres.
Such a life is not content to repeatedly rehearse its moments of glory from the past.. The life of faith is focused on the moment, lest the slightest distraction result in a fall.
It is true that our walk becomes less awkward as we hit our stride in faith, still we are regularly confronted with the long, hard pulls that take us beyond what we believed could be accomplished though us in faith.
Faith finds the legs to do the impossible because in Christ, "all things are possible." Paul makes clear what increases the level of perseverance in a life in Romans 5:1-5:
"Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
There's that dreaded "T" word ... tribulation! The Greek word communicates the idea of being pressed in from all sides and the root word expresses the idea of being caught in a rut. Most of us have been literally stuck in ruts before. The situation doesn't leave many options.
A story from my father's experience will illustrate the obvious. For a number of years he maintained a weekend farm out in the country. I'm sure the produce was among the most expensive ever grown but he enjoyed the diversion and the fresh vegetables.
One weekend it had rained heavily. He attempted to drive across an area which was fine in dry weather but had become a bog. It quickly became obvious that he was not going to get out of the rut he had created without a different plan.
Rather than deal with the situation right then, he got involved in other things. When he returned, the vehicle chassis was on the ground. Had he dealt with the problem earlier (persevered) he could have easily pulled the vehicle out with a tractor.
Instead, his late attempt to use the tractor resulted in the tractor becoming mired as well. The following morning he was able to find a neighbor with heavy equipment to pull him out.
There are times when life seems to press in on us. The temptation is to give up and take a path that requires less effort. But sooner or later, we are confronted with the situation again and it is worse instead of better.
Paul says we need these "pressing moments" to teach us to persevere. When you are in a rut, there is only one way to go. Spiritually, that means tribulation forces us to look to Him who is the only way to redeem the situation.
If we will let Him, He will deliver us, and our faith will grow because we persevered. Hopefully, we will not have to bottom out before we admit we need His aid!
The Chronicles of Christian Skywatcher
Perseverance is not a characteristic that is altogether lacking in Skywatcher. He perseveres in the belief that tribulation is something to be avoided!
Without getting into the "Millennial Madness" that seems to grip much of the church today, I do note with interest the predominant theme is a "pre-tribulation rapture." Perhaps I'll address such notions in the future, but for now just note the theme ... tribulation avoidance. The Scripture makes it clear that the glory we share is directly proportional to the tribulation we bear in our Christian walk.
Though we are not to seek tribulation, neither are we to compromise our faith to avoid it.
Skywatcher could not care less. He is comforted by the masses of believers who assure him that he will not have to go through great tribulation. That is just not his idea of a meaningful Christian walk. He's made a profession of faith and that was enough of a commitment for one lifetime.
When trouble does come, he shouts, "Unfair!" He somehow has been led to believe that his profession of faith in Christ was supposed to insulate his life from problems. His experience convinces him that every time he allows his life to be more conformed to the image of Christ, problems seem to increase.
He can't stay focused. His view quickly moves from obedience to the problems and as it does he misses the opportunity for God to demonstrate His power and faithfulness. The end result is that he lives through the problem but doesn't learn anything or grow.
Consequently, he becomes more resolved in his endeavor to avoid tribulation. He finds that to be a more comfortable routine. Life is good! In fact, it seems to be getting better all the time!
From his spiritual rocking chair he scoffs at those who suggest his lack of diligence will have a price. The faithful grieve for his condition. They have eyes to see and ears to hear, and they know his apathy will result in a huge debit to his faith.
There is a little bit of Skywatcher in all of us. May we be quick to recognize him!
The Apprentice's Journal
A number of years ago, our Sunday school class gathered for its annual New Year's Eve watch. Amid the games and celebration our hostess invited us to more serious reflection.
To each person present was posed the question, "What do you see as your greatest need for the coming new year? That question evoked a lot of different responses. I remember really looking at my life and considering the path I had walked and the unknowns that remained for the future. My answer was simply, "steadfastness."
Living a life of faith makes us acutely aware of the temptation to lay it down on occasion. It requires commitment and sacrifice, and that can begin to weary a soul. The temptation is to focus on the difficulties of our walk and lose sight of the goal.
When we do, we focus instead on the immediate difficulties and the barriers that lie between us and that goal. They can, at times, seem insurmountable.
Keeping the goal in focus is essential, but paying attention to the moment is also imperative. Like the marathon runner, we will get to the goal not because we are able to visualize it, but because we make a conscious decision to take another step toward it, and another, and another, and another.... That is perseverance.
On August 3, 1992, Dereck Redmond of Great Britain ran in the 100 meter race in Barcelona Spain. As he ran, he tore a hamstring and fell to the track. In agony, he rose on one leg and hopped toward the finish line. He fell again and again.
Driven by the memory of an Achilles tendon injury that took him out of the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea he struggled on. Long after the other runners had crossed the finish line, he pressed on. Refusing to quit he made his painful way crawling down the lane in front of him. Finally, a big man wearing a cap emblazoned with Just Do It burst from the stands, past security and onto the track. Proudly, Jim Redmond embraced his son, took his weight upon himself, and together they crossed the finish line.
Jim Redmond had sacrificed jobs and his personal pursuits to see that his son got the best training he could get. Now he saw to it that his son finished the course that he set out to complete. Dereck persevered in spite of his weaknesses. Because he did, his father's heart was moved to demonstrate his love and support.
"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:11).
God has called us to faithfulness in spite of failure. My desire for steadfastness years ago expressed the longing of a heart that knew something of its frailties. Today, my failures have made me acutely aware of my need for the Father to bear me up and see me through. His faithfulness has made me more committed than ever to persevere in His strength. My prayer is that together we will all cross the finish line victorious in Christ alone.