I have a book on my shelf entitled Start. The extension of the title includes three statements: Punch Fear in the Face. Escape Average. Do Work that Matters. To create, accomplish, and complete, a person must start. The issue for too many people is their start does not come to conclusion because the work becomes daunting, not as exciting, or they tire out on the way to completion. They may start well, but they do not finish well.
In Steve Farrar’s book Finishing Strong: Going the Distance for Your Family he writes, “The Christian life isn’t a hundred-yard dash. It’s a marathon. It’s a long race, and long races don’t require speed. They require grit, determination, and finishing power” (21). The Christian Life is more than a one-time decision to follow Jesus when we confess our sins. It is a daily commitment to surrender our lives to him.
In Hebrews 12:1-2, we read, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…” The writer of Hebrews encourages us to live a life of perseverance where we seek to live each day faithfully to God’s call for our lives. We each have a race marked out for us where we cannot see the finish line, so we fix our eyes on Jesus. When our eyes are fixed on Jesus, we can run the race set before us no matter how we feel in the present moment.
Perseverance grows during our suffering and difficult days. When there are difficult days and we feel as though we are all alone, we could easily become weary and lose heart. Paul writes in Romans 5:3-4, “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
As we persevere, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, we are becoming people of deeper character and deeper hope. As we experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to give us strength to persevere, we become more aware of our need for Jesus to be our guide and our provision for each day. When we allow our own faith weariness and tiredness of doing good to become overwhelming, we tend to take our eyes off Jesus, focusing on our own issues. We are encouraged to persevere and stay on course for the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.
How are you being called to persevere today? As you persevere, do you see your character and your hope growing?
Prayer: Lord, help me persevere when life becomes difficult. I want to keep my eyes fixed on you and not on the issues of today. Thank you for marking out a race for me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.