Perseverance (Hebrews 10:23)

There is a time for everything. Truly, there is. There is a time to rest – and often we miss that time. We long for it, we pray for it, but when it comes, we fret instead. For that famous passage on a ‘time for everything’, read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.
 
There is also a time to persevere. To endure. To not grow weary, and forge forward. This is true of our faith in Jesus, and of our walk with him. I’ve been recently struck by passage after passage in the Bible regarding perseverance in faith. Look at the language in these few verses:
 
‘By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.’ (2 Tim 1:14)
 
‘As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed…’ (2 Tim 3:14)
 
‘Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of witnesses.’ (1 Tim 6:12)
 
‘I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is within you…’ (2 Tim 1:6)
 
Now I’ll be honest, these Scriptures about digging in and walking on, encourage me this season. They simply remind me that a walk of truth is not ‘confirmed’ by being an easy walk. I sometimes mistake fatigue or resistance as an indicator that I’m going the wrong way. Jesus said the path of truth – ultimately the path of believing in Jesus and following him – was a ‘narrow path’, not an easy one. (Mt 7:13-14)
 
Have you grown weary in your faith in Christ? Have you grown weary in walking the path you know to be true? We’re called to ‘spur one another on to love and good deeds’, and I do want to encourage you this day. I have struggled with ‘weariness’ in my walk with Jesus, and in my testimony to others. I’m sure you have, too. But my friend, be encouraged. It is natural to fatigue, we are in a battle. It is natural to feel ‘foreign’ here in the world, for our citizenship is in heaven. (Phil 3:20) Hold steady! Lift your head! Christ is the true path, and your reward is real!
 
‘Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.’ (Hebrews 10:23) 

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