When the going gets tough....

By definition the word “perseverance” is not a feel-good word. It means “steady and continued action or belief, usually over a long period and especially despite difficulties or setbacks.” Not a word I hope to have to use often to describe my state.
But as Christians we do talk a lot about perseverance, don’t we? Usually, in ministry to OTHERS or when we are not actually having to persevere. We talk about persevering in our walk with the Lord, persevering through difficult circumstances, persevering to reach the goal – as Paul says, “I press forward.” We love to talk about it, listen to inspiring preachers preach about it and when our friends are struggling, we love to give them the pep talk of all pep talks – you can do it! And we believe it - for them. But what happens when the opportunity to persevere comes to our doorstep? (I said opportunity on purpose. ROAR!) What happens when circumstances enter our lives that distract us, slow us down or just plain bring us to our knees? What happens when it’s my turn to persevere? Suddenly, the idea looses its romanticism. It becomes gritty, hard-core, and raw and at 30 years old I cannot yet say that I have persevered without it being extremely ugly.
I mean, think about the epic war films. The hero starts out strong, passionate and riled up, but by the end of the movie, he either dies a gruesome, martyr’s death or if he sees the victory, he’s beat up with some serious battle scars that were accrued along the way.
Perseverance is difficult but a necessary part of our lives as Christians because inevitably there will be times we want to throw in the towel. We may get frustrated and discouraged, not understanding or seeing the plan of the Lord. We may have to fight our flesh that wants to return to the habits of old. Sometimes, we just get tired and don’t have the high and passionate emotions that make our pursuit of Christ easy and enjoyable.
During these times our brain knows what is right – the difficulty is trying to get the rest of our person to line up with our knowledge. It’s during these times that we have to “walk out our faith.” We have to “go through the motions” without having good feelings accompany our behavior. This is time when you just DO what you KNOW is right. There is not one thing glamorous about it, but good things come from it. Though you don’t “feel” it, if you persevere, this is the time that you go through intense and deep spiritual growth. You may feel like your prayers are bouncing off the wall, but they are not. They are being heard. And you are giving God the opportunity to display His faithfulness in your life.
One of my favorite Scriptures is Psalm 103. I love it because it talks about the compassion of the Lord and how He does not treat us as our sins deserve. But my favorite part is verses 13 & 14:
“As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” “He remembers that we are dust.” - I love that.
If your perseverance has become ugly, if you have fallen, get back up. The Bible tells us “Though a righteous man fall seven times, seven times he gets back up.” I love a story from one of my mentors. He said when he first got saved; he had such a problem with cussing. He could not stop cussing, but he was determined to not let that detour him from the new life he found in Christ. He said that he determined in his heart that, if need be, he would be the cussing-est Bible reading Christian there was. He said it took about a year before he was delivered from the habit of cussing. But he did not let that deter him from his walk with Christ. By no means am I promoting free license to just “sin and serve God” but our walk with Him is definitely a process. Don’t let anything be an excuse to quit the race.
God knows our capabilities, our limits and our weaknesses. He knows and He is in our corner as we persevere. Cry out to God, unload on Him, be honest with Him – tell Him exactly how you feel, but don’t quit. There doesn’t have to be any superficiality with God. He knows “where you are” anyway. He is not waiting for you to fail. He’s cheering you on and establishing your path for success. If you don’t believe me, take the time to stop and read Romans 8. In my opinion, this is the most encouraging chapter in the entire Bible. It’s like a shot of B-vitamin for the soul. So take your vitamins, don’t give up and don’t delay. Persevere.