Perseverance, Tenacity, Endurance and Hope

St. Paul writes in Romans 5: Suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Somewhere in my upbringing I learned that quitting isn't a good thing.  I hate to quit things- even when I know I should!  There's a voice inside of me that says, "Quitter!"  Even when quitting is really the only option for the sake of sanity, conscience or health.  It's funny because I encourage people to say "no" to things if it doesn't fit their gifts/talents/timing/passion.  But it's still hard for me to do.  It goes back to that darn First Commandment really:  You shall have no other gods!  Sometimes I make my own self-sufficiency into a god; my own persevering personality into an idol; a bone I cannot let go of for fear of what?  Letting someone down?  Looking bad in someone else's eyes?

St. Paul doesn't look at the characteristic "perseverance" as something WE DO out of our own brute strength and power.  He sees it as coming from suffering (rather than suffering through something just to prove we can and will do it!)  Suffering for the sake of our faith is what he's talking about- not suffering for the sake of suffering. . . and it is this suffering for the faith that produces the tenacity to hang on.  That's because when we are suffering for the faith we are clinging like crazy to the cross of Jesus.  It might look differently to those who are not in our shoes.  They might characterize it as "useless," "vanity," "foolishness," even "evil."  But we should not be concerned about what others think or say-- we should only be concerned with God's opinion.  Others cannot see the whole picture of our suffering for the faith, they see what they want to see from their perspective.  We do the same to them.  Paul reminds us very clearly that Christ died for us WHILE we were sinners; and he died for our brothers and sisters who are also sinners as well.  We suffer.  They suffer.  We don't have to understand each other's sufferings in the faith but we can give each other the benefit of the doubt that they are trying to live obediently to Christ.

So we suffer for the faith because we know ourselves to be justified by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.  We understand ourselves to be redeemed by our Lord, made right again through Christ, not by our own merits but simply by undeserved grace.  That suffering produces perseverance (tenacity, endurance, resolve, firmness, differentiation, resoluteness) which then forges our character and through this new character of ours we are given HOPE.  Hope is that which keeps us looking forward rather than over our shoulder at the way things were (and will never be again!)  Hope is what fuels our mission.  Hope is what sends us out in confidence to a world in desperate need of the gospel.  Hope will never put us to shame!  Our own self-sufficiency will --- but hope will not ever cause us heartache or shame!

Let us live in the hope of Christ who claims us, names us, calls us, strengthens us, guides us, loves us and sends us!

Image credit:  kaushik.net