Perseverance

“Perseverance is one hand on the plow and the other hand wiping the tears away.” ~John Bunyan

I can remember hearing people witness to others and saying things like “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for you”. What I’m about to say may not be true for all, but for me the Christian life is hard.

Every day I see more and more of my faults, more and more of my sins, more and more of my complete unworthiness. I was told this would get easy, and things would just fall away. The easy believisim thats seen so much on TV and radio says this walk is supposed to be easier and I should be on some high mountaintop high above all the hard things of life. They said it was easy…

We all should know that’s not true. The Christian life was never promised to be easy but God did promise to never leave or forsake us. We must persevere, and that perseverance comes from God thankfully.

One hand on the plow, pushing forward against the world and regardless of the sin that still haunts us. The other hand wiping away the tears caused by those sins and on the other hand, tears brought on by the love the Father has for the Son and the love the Son has for His bride, the church.

God will not let His promises become void, He will not leave His people to fend for themselves. We endure/ persevere to the end because God works in us and on us. Phillipians 1:6 reads “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus”.

We may feel the urge to give up but God renews our strength and is a constant help. Many times I have felt like giving up but God has sent encouragement to me through someone, through His word, or just through the act of prayer to Him.

He always sees our needs and answers according to His purpose. The suffering we may endure in this life may seem like a perfect reason to quit, but those sufferings are a way to break us from the world and draw us closer to the Father.

Romans 5 is a very encouraging passage “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 is a ton in this verse for me. Justified by faith we have peace with God, not peace with the world. The world will still look down on you and bring about persecution in some instances, but our peace is with God. The death of Christ brought that peace and we enter through faith in Him. This is hope and in this hope we Rejoice, but we don’t just Rejoice in the hope, we Rejoice in the sufferings because we know the end result and have a Savior to find rest and peace in and a salvation that was accomplished and is secure because of Him.

And the suffering leads to perseverance. This is where we have one hand on the plow and wiping our eyes with the other. We really suffer, it’s not just a metaphor. In the past many suffered far beyond what we could imagine, even to the point of death. These saints continued to plow and continued to cry all the way to their fiery death stake. What an honorable way to leave this world and enter the next!

And through this perseverance God continues to grow and mature us in the faith. We are able to accept the sufferings a little easier I believe, and we make it a practice to notice the hand of God working for us through these hard times and our hope continues to grow stronger.

We are not promised an easy life but we will not walk it alone. We may not have anyone in our corner that we can run to for help but help has not been withheld from us. God’s people will persevere to the end because of God’s great love for His children. God enters a covenant with His children and He keeps His covenant, even when we fail. God didn’t just begin the process and leave us to work it out. We are in His hand and eternity has been secured by Him for us.

Here is a list of verses that should help encourage you in all times and give you much hope.

• Col 3:3-4 “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.“
• 1 Cor 1:4-9 “give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.“
• 2 Tim 4:18 “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.“
• 1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time“
• John 6:39-40 “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
• John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.“
• Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.“
• Eph 1:13-14 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.“