Persist IN

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 

(I Corinthians 13:7)

I don't know who needs this today, but the words that popped in this passage today were 'love never gives up'. There are times when all we want to do is throw in the towel and just call it quits. It could be in a relationship, a job, some adventure you got yourself into, or even a dream that you have always wanted to see fulfilled. Love never gives up - never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures - regardless of the circumstances, our lack of whatever it is we need at the moment, or how hard the pressure seems to be 'in the middle of the muddle' we call life.

Does that mean whenever we want to give up, we need more love in our lives? No, it just means we turn to the one who loves us beyond our understanding of his love. We turn to Jesus and ask him for whatever it is we need at the moment - to continue with purpose, power, and persistence. If God has called you there, he will take you through it until you see his hand in it. If he has placed you there, he will clothe you in his grace to get beyond the present discouragement you feel. If he is drawing you there, it is because he is already there to meet with you.

Be faithful IN the circumstances. Be hopeful FOR the moments to bring greater things. Be consistent and see what God will do THROUGH the circumstances you find yourself in. The truth is that we all doubt when times get a bit harder than we imagined they could be, but we don't have to put our faith in our doubt! We need to take our doubt to God and ask him to change our outlook. In other words, we are asking him to change our perspective so we 'see outside' the circumstances. When we do this, we begin to see Jesus, not the 'hardness' of the moment.

Life doesn't always deal us a 'good hand', but when we press into his love and allow his love to envelop us with his peace and endow us with his power, we will have whatever we need to persist even in the worst of circumstances. Just sayin!

Look up, look around, trust what is within

Winston Churchill reminded us, "If you are going through hell, keep going." There is quite a bit of wisdom in that one! We might want to give up, but hell isn't our stomping ground! It may seem a bit like we are doomed to be there, but the truth of the matter is that we are to move through to the other side of whatever misery it is we are calling our 'hell' at this moment. God reminds us, "As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us." (Colossians 1:10-12)

There is a strength not our own that we rely upon when in the midst of something bigger than our capacity, or harder than our capabilities. It is God's strength we press into - the strength that keeps us moving forward - out of the hell we are enduring and into the grace we are bound for in the end. God makes us strong enough to endure the tough places - not just the easy places. We go through the tougher stuff with a hope - there is something bright and beautiful on the other side of it. If that seems a bit too 'Pollyanna' for some, I will not apologize. God's not going to allow anything to stand in the way of our 'moving through', but we may be stuck where we are because we have been trying to 'move through' without tapping into the strength he gives us. In the midst of 'hell', we learn some pretty valuable lessons. We learn more and more how God works! We may also learn just how ineffectively WE work. 

Today isn't a 'cheer from the sidelines' for those enduring hardship - it is a rally call. A call to get up, get moving, and get through. I recount the toughest week of my life in Basic Training when we had to 'endure' all the 'final exam' type tests. The hardest for me was that final day of physical endurance testing. We did sit-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, and ran the mile - just to name a few. Combat boots and full fatigues didn't make any of it easy. The sheer number of each demanding test was so hard because there was absolutely no break in between each leg of the test. That run came at the end of all the other demanding physical endurance tests - a run that almost was my undoing. I wanted to quit - just sit down, rest a bit, and get my 'second wind'. What I didn't realize at the time was that the purpose was to show me there would be times in warfare when a 'second wind' opportunity would not be possible. I had to muster that 'internal will' to finish.

Many of us think we 'muster' that will all on our own, but the thing we don't recognize is God's Spirit within driving us forward when we don't want to go on any further. I could have sat down, taken the 'no pass' grade, and washed out of Basic Training. I could have cheated and taken a short-cut when no one was looking. There was no honor in either of those choices, though. Somewhere around the three-quarter mile mark, I put lifted my very tired head and asked God for the help. I had been looking at the beating of my boots upon the worn path, but when I lifted my eyes to see the trees around me, the sky above me, and the finish in front of me, a 'second wind' came. You may not think you will ever make it through this present 'hell', but maybe God is about to bring that 'second wind' that will drive you forward. Look up, look around, and trust what is within you. You are bound for the finish line, my friend. Just sayin!

It isn't patience you need - it is endurance

So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books. (2 Peter 1:5-8)

If you have ever started a 'project', then realize it sits unfinished some months later, you are not likely alone in that 'project completion' cycle. Many of us are great at 'making starts', but then somewhere down the road it all fizzles out. Why? We began with all the gusto in the world, but somehow that gusto didn't carry us along to the finish line. We wearied, got distracted, lost interest - whatever the 'excuse' - there is sits in that 'unfinished state'. It might not be all that bad if we were restoring an old table, but when it comes to 'restoring' this old sinful life of ours, we cannot let that project fall into the 'unfinished state'! We have to keep at it.

Our faith has to reach the place of 'completion' - not that I have any idea what that will look like for me, let alone you, but I present Christ as an example we can ALL follow. As he walked this earth, what did we see exhibited in him? We certainly saw repeated record of his good character, didn't we? He was spat upon, whipped, beaten, skin torn to shreds, and do you know his response? "Father, forgive them." He was ridiculed for healing on the Sabbath, misunderstood as a son of Satan, and do you know his response? He continued to heal, embraced the sinners, and never wavered. Why? He was a man of 'solid character'. He expressed tremendously generous love in all he did - even when he needed to encounter sin head on.

We all likely want some greater amount of spiritual understanding. We might even believe owning a leather bound Bible, carrying it to church on Sundays, opening it while the sermon is preached, and taking a few notes to boot will help us develop that 'understanding'. I think we might think we will somehow get this understanding in the passages we read, but trust me on this one - it isn't what we read - it is what we study, apply, study again, and reapply that helps develop our spiritual understanding. We don't get deeper understanding by casual acquaintance with the Word of God - we get it by deliberate effort.

My daughter told me she prayed for patience - I asked her why? She said she needed it to deal with a couple of head-strong young men growing up under her roof - my grandsons. I reminded her to pray for patience is to welcome something she may not have wanted - tribulation. She paused for a moment while I explained that is what scripture proclaims as what produces patience in our lives, so she may not want to pray for patience as much as she prays for a spirit of endurance. God will help her endure the challenges of parenting teens - by helping her to develop spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, and even generous love. Endurance is the ability to stand without compromise - what more could a parent ask for from God?

We somehow equate spiritual growth to those 'great moments' when we experience those huge changes in our lives, but I want to point us toward the daily 'grind' of 'finishing the project' at hand. Those 'finished projects' within our lives lead to the next project and then the next. As we grow in small ways we are growing in larger ways than we might imagine. Grow, learn, grow again, and then relearn it all anew. We aren't going to ever be finished with this spiritual growth until Jesus comes and takes us home with him! Just sayin!

The ride is pretty rough at times

Have you ever been in a circumstance where you knew 'letting go' of something meant it was going to bring some form of pain into your life? You may lose your grip on it and it will cause you physical pain, but you may also lose your 'grip' on it and it will leave you with a whole lot of emotional pain. Whenever we are holding onto something, or someone, for dear life, we are using a whole lot of effort to hold onto it, as if our very life depended upon not letting go. In some cases, we are the ones doing the "holding" - simply because we are desperate to not let go. At others, someone or something else is holding onto us - because to let go would be to experience loss of some kind. None of us likes to experience loss - no matter how well we are prepared. Loss is often equated with being "deprived" of something you once had, such as when we mourn the loss of an individual in our lives. It can also mean an accidental loss of something, much like misplacing something we once were so careful to have been aware of, but somehow we paid less attention and did not exhibit the care we needed with it. Either way, the loss causes us some type of sense of "urgency" and "grief". Loss is somehow equated with letting go - either consciously, or unconsciously.

“If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says God, “I’ll get you out of any trouble. I’ll give you the best of care if you’ll only get to know and trust me. Call me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times; I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party. I’ll give you a long life, give you a long drink of salvation!” (Psalm 91:14-16)

We need to hold onto God for dear life. We could (and probably will) experience a whole lot of grief, or unnecessary concern if we don't! Foremost in our thoughts should be the position of "holding on" - not to some "thing", but to the God of the entire universe - the Creator of all things. When we are holding on "for dear life", we are determined to not let go! There is a tenacity and determination to hold on, no matter what comes our way. I have been on roller-coasters at the amusement parks, being thrown this way, then that, all the while "holding on for dear life" until the ride came to a safe stop at the base of the ride. Roller-coasters are actually built with something in front of you that is there expressly for the purpose of "holding on" - that little bar which comes across you, or the one which straps over your shoulders and comes down around your arms and chest are to 'hold' you. The "bars" are designed to not only keep you safe, but to give you something to "hold onto" - simply because the ride will be rough! Guess what? Life has some rough twists and turns at times. When we are holding onto the right stuff in life, we find we get through those twists and turns unscathed!

God tells us he'll be the one to get us out of ANY trouble - when we are holding onto him. No person, or thing, can do what God can do - they may promise to keep us safe, but the best security system in the world is nothing compared to the shelter of his arms! Sometimes we stop right there and don't read on in this passage - simply "claiming" the promise that God will get us out of any trouble. The truth of the matter is God gives us some responsibility in this 'safety thing'! We position ourselves to hold onto him for dear life - because our life really does depend upon him! Then we have to get to know him and learn to trust him, even when things get rougher than we anticipated. It is impossible to trust anyone or anything if we never get to know the integrity of the person, or the strength of the object we are placing our trust in. We trust the bar across our body on the roller-coaster because it is there, locked into position, and it is solid. We learn to trust God in much the same manner - because he is consistently there, he is "locked in" on us, and he is a solid foundation!

Simply holding on may not be enough at times - we also need to call out when our resolution is not as strong as it should be, when the obstacles in our path might cause us to stumble, and when our grip seems to be slipping. If you have ever tried to hold onto something tightly for any length of time, you know you eventually allow your grip to slacken. Why? Simply because your attention and strength is diverted from the focus on "holding on" - the effort becomes more than we can handle. God reminds us when this happens, we can call out to him - he is there to strengthen our grip and to pull us even closer. What we hold onto determines the stability of the ride and the security we feel as we go on the ride! We can hold onto our "trusted" ways of self-will - trusting in our abilities to deal with life, or we can let go of our grip on "self-dependence" and learn to depend on the "safety-hold" of God's arms firmly around us. The choice is ours. What we find ourselves holding the tightest to may not always be the thing that we will find the greatest security and protection in. If our grip is on the right stuff, we will endure the "ride". Just sayin!