FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH!!!
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (I Cor. 15:58).
How do we gain the ability to keep on keeping on? The Bible tells us to not be weary in doing good! The Bible encourages us to be steadfast in the faith. Do not allow your faith to become dull. Perseverance is a character quality, which we are to add to our faith. It is an active trait. When a person is doing something and encounters difficulty in continuing it or in seeing it through to a conclusion, but sticks with the tasks at hand it becomes a “positive patience.” We must never get so comfortable where we are at in our Christian life that we tend to drift away. We must pay attention to where we are at and do a daily self-examination. People fail to persevere simply because they lose interest. They become inattentive, lethargic, careless, and they slowly drift away. Shame on us when this happens! It’s shocking to think that something as dynamic as Christ in you can become no-hum but that’s certainly what this warning suggests. Didn’t Jesus imply the same thing, though, when He rebuked the church at Laodicea because they were lukewarm? (Lev. 3:14-19).
Scripture warns that your faith may not fail in a crash, but a slow, perhaps imperceptible, drifting away from God. If your Christian life has become dull—return to your first love—Jesus Christ. Fall in love with Him all over again. Motivate yourself to keep going by frequently reviewing the reasons you began.
Sometimes we become disillusioned with Christ and when that happens we stop being steadfast. Disillusionment is extremely destructive to perseverance in whatever area of life it may occur. What is one to do who feels honestly disillusioned? Maybe the endeavor really is not feasible. Does one go on beating his head against a wall just so he can say he has perseverance? No, to do so is to be foolishly stubborn and the result would like be a concussion of the brain, not a change in the wall.
Ordinarily, those who speak for perseverance ignore this “other side” of the question. For example, a popular poem by Edgar A. Guest reads:
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
but he with a chuckle replied
That maybe it couldn’t but he would be one
who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
on his face; if he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
that couldn’t be done, and he did it.
Some undertakings are virtually impossible. Perseverance is no doubt a wonderful virtue, but it won’t do much for a person trying to grow orange trees in the state of Maine. In all these situations and many more, wise perseverance depends on knowing God’s will. We must remain steadfast and immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord. A secret of steadfastness, then, is to develop a conviction through prayer as to what God’s will for you is.
The Christian life is intended to be one of continual growth and progress. “Let us go on” is its theme. The whole point of perseverance is to make sure we do not stalemate. How do we resolve this dilemma? On the one hand we need to see progress so we won’t give up, but on the other hand we must refuse to give up in order seeing progress ultimately; hence enters faith. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb. 11:1). Steadfastness is to envision by faith the end result and believe you are inexorably moving toward that goal, where progress happens to be apparent right now or not. We must take action or become lazy in how we live our Christian life. Learn to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised (Heb. 6:11-12). We are to show diligence not laziness in our approach to spiritual maturity.
The Bible warns against sloth or indolence or laziness within its pages—“We want each of you to show…diligence…we do not want you to become lazy” (Heb. 6:11-12). We might be in for quite a surprise if we could see how much and how often laziness is at the root of our spiritual difficulties. God’s will is hindered because we are too lazy to search the scriptures; to pray through a matter; to grasp our opportunities to help others; to equip ourselves for greater service; or to write letters; phone people, and communicate. How often is our lack of perseverance attributable to plain ordinary laziness?
Laziness affects our lives much as inertia affects the physical world. The law of inertia in physics states that “matter remains at rest or in uniform motion in the same straight line unless acted upon by some external force.” That is, an object at rest will remain so unless something makes it move, and a moving object will continue unless something makes it stop. We human beings are somewhat like that. Why do you suppose it is harder to go back to the daily grind after a holiday or vacation? Inertia makes getting started the hardest part. The inertia-like quality of laziness offers hope as well as danger, however. Why? Because it means that once you have stirred yourself to activity, it is not nearly so hard to continue. Another secret of perseverance to avoid laziness is to make inertia work for you by forcing yourself to take some small action toward your goal regularly.
Remember all of us learn to persevere as we move forward in our Christian lives. We must constantly envision the goal we are trying to reach—run the race—finish the course. With His help walk through the obstacle—live the moment! As far as our perseverance is concerned, there are lots of people who can help you. Look for support groups–no one has to struggle alone. Of course, our greatest help comes from the Lord Himself. Examine the life of anyone who has overcome great obstacles and you will most likely find a person who has drawn strength from the Lord.
Christ is more than the supreme example of endurance. He is our direct source of strength. Reach out to Jesus. He will be there, and He will restore your soul, “Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength: they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Isaiah 40:31). What a beautiful description of perseverance this is!
