Word - Perseverance

Introduction:

James 1:2-4,12 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

The word perseverance comes from the Greek word HUPOMONE. In Classical Greek it is described as the ability of a plant to thrive in a harsh environment - literally in the deserts and rocky slopes. In later Greek and Jewish literature, it was used to refer to the ’spiritual staying power’ which enabled the faithful to die for their God. The Oxford meaning is "to continue steadfastly".

But in today's fasting moving / speed era this word seems impossible. Everyday activities which used to take days or weeks, in today' time we expect it to happen now instantly. In fact, it’s difficult to identify any area of our daily life that hasn’t been accelerated. Think about it. Microwaves – instant food, ATM machines. E-mail. fast food, instant coffee and SMS, we expect instant replies even in our Journey with the Lord.

When we don’t get instant replies we get disappointed, we get frustrated and we quit. We’ve got used to having all our desires instantly gratified, and as a result we have become impatient, we have grown intolerant with regards to any kind of delay. We expect to get what we want and when we want it. Seldom do we think the delay could be for our own growth.

The Biblical virtue of perseverance is so rare today, because perseverance runs directly counter to this mindset. Perseverance takes a long-term perspective. It focuses on the future, rather than the immediate present. Perseverance is being patient. It keeps waiting, and believing and trusting, even when things take longer than expected. It keeps working, and seeking and striving, even when things turn out to be more difficult than anticipated. It remains faithful, even when there are ample opportunities to throw in the towel, to give up and move on. Perseverance means sticking with something for as long as God calls you to do so, no matter how long it takes, no matter how difficult or painful it becomes, no matter how many discouragements and disappointments and obstacles you encounter along the way.

Why is perseverance so important? Because it takes time to discover the true nature of things. And as the old proverb states, "truth is the daughter of time." For example, it takes time to know if a project or an enterprise is going to be successful. Appearances can be deceiving. In fact, as we search the Scriptures, and study the history of God’s dealings with His people, we see that He has often been pleased to bring success and victory out of apparent failure and defeat. He likes to demonstrate his power and might by turning around seemingly hopeless situations. And so if we give up too soon, we may miss on the blessing. The supreme example of this is the crucifixion of Christ. By all appearances, his mission had failed miserably. What could be more hopeless than a dead savior, a lifeless leader? But three days later came the resurrection. And that changed everything.

The importance of perseverance

It produces patience - When things don’t seem to go your way. Christ never promised us a bed of roses or life would be hunky dory after we meet Him. Rather, we are promised that we shall have hardships and tribulations in this life. I would like to tell you a story of the growth of the tree that is very similar to our Christian growth of life. In Asia there is a tree called the giant bamboo that has particularly a hard seed. It is so hard that you must water it and fertilize the seed for four years before any portion of it breaks the soil. And then in the fifth year the tree shows itself . But the remarkable thing is that once it breaks the surface this bamboo plant, like many of its species is capable of growing at the rate as fast as 4 feet a day to the height of 90 feet in less than a year. You can practically watch it grow. (you could consult the National geographic if you have any doubts) Now the question is : Did the bamboo tree grow 90 feet in under one month or over five years ? 5 years of course. Most people do not realize that if the grower stopped watering or fertilizing that seed at any point of time would have died.

When we don’t see instant results many of us get discouraged with our dreams and goals. We become impatient. And I believe many of us walk away from situations when our dreams break through and flourish. We need to pray for patience as Romans 5:3-5 says We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us.

Remember Joseph in the Old Testament. He was sold into slavery by his brothers, he was unjustly accused by his master’s wife and thrown into jail, he was betrayed and forgotten by one of his fellow inmates, Pharaoh’s cupbearer. Finally, through a series of unlikely events, he was made ruler over all Egypt; and he saved the whole nation from starvation, as well as his own family. But it was only by persevering in faith that he came to know God’ goodness. In fact, God was good to Joseph all along; God was working out for his good and wise plan from the beginning. But if Joseph had given up, he would have never known that. He never would have seen how all his trials were working together for his good. Joseph had to persevere in faith through years of what appeared to be God’s indifference and even hostility, before he could finally see that everything he had gone through was a part of God’s good divine plan, for him and his people. He had to go through the pit of rejection, through the prison of endurance to reach the palace of power.
Only those who persevere receive the reward. Revelation 2:10-11 10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.

I would like to share with you a testimony that of a lady who was diagnosed with Lymphoma. Her prognosis was that she had 40 % chance of survival for 5 years. Her first reaction was confusion. But later she too a decision to accept the sickness rather than brood over her illness.
- The first lesson she said she learned is : Make informed choices. Difficult times are easier to endure when they result from ones own choice.
- The second lesson - that cancer taught her was Don’t avoid hard choices. We are tougher than we think we are. I m reminded of a saying here TOUGH TIMES NEVER LAST TOUGH PEOPLE DO.
- The third lesson that she learnt “Love Herself more’. It was a love that she was longing for.
- The fourth lesson that she learnt : Look for good anywhere and find good everywhere. Enjoy humour in all circumstances. Live vigorously and remember all are one. The concise moral that she learnt from cancer “ G-O-D-IS- NOWHERE TO GOD IS NOW HERE. This lady is still living and helping other patients to go through their illness. This is her reward.
The areas we sometimes fail to persevere….
- In doing good : because we are not appreciated or given credit that we deserve. Charity my dear friends is a thankless job and as Christians our reward is in heaven.
  
  As Paul tells us, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9) If we continue in following Christ, we will reap a harvest. We will find his grace and mercy to be sufficient. We will find his rewards to be worth all the suffering, and sacrifice, and labor, and tears. But we must not become weary and turn aside from following Him, or else we will never know God as He truly is. Perseverance in the midst of trial reveals who we truly are. It also reveals to us who God really is."
- In marriage : God insists that marriage is a lifetime commitment; that with a few exceptions, once a man and woman take their vows, they are obligated to persevere with one another. Why? Well, obviously God knew that there would be many difficulties, many disappointments, many reasons to quit, many opportunities for both the husband and wife to persuade themselves that a mistake had been made, and they would be better off starting over with someone else. He knew that without that lifetime commitment, we sinful people would be very unlikely to stick it out, very unlikely to voluntarily weather the storms and persevere through the pain. He knew that sometimes the vow is all that keeps people from taking the next bus out of town. But I think there’s something else going on. I think God wants us to persevere with one another because that’s the only way to get past the garbage to the glory. You have to be willing to stay together through the revelation of your sin, through the process of learning to forgive and ask forgiveness, learning to repent, learning to serve instead of being served, learning to bear with one another’s weaknesses -- you usually have to go through a lot of difficult, painful, unpleasant stuff in order to get to the really good stuff. To get to the place where you and your husband or wife, are loving one another as God intended, and serving Christ together, where you can truly appreciate one another, instead of just tolerating one another. As with most things in life, it’s only by persevering through the trials and troubles that you can enjoy the deepest blessings and pleasures of marriage. In context with forgiveness
  
  I read a beautiful story on forgiveness on the email. A kindergarten teacher decided to let her class play a game. The teacher told each child in the class to bring along a plastic bag containing a few potatoes. Each potato will be given a name of a person that the child hates, so the number of potatoes that a child will put in his/her plastic bag will depend on the number of people he/she hates. So when the day came, every child brought some potatoes with the name of the people he/she hated. Some had 2 potatoes; some 3 while some up to 5 potatoes. The teacher then told the children to carry with them the potatoes in the plastic bag wherever they go (even to the toilet) for 1 week. Days after days passed by, and the children started to complain due to the unpleasant smell let out by the rotten potatoes. Besides, those having 5 potatoes also had to carry heavier bags. After 1 week, the children were relieved because the game had finally ended. The teacher asked: "How did you feel while carrying the potatoes with you for 1 week?" The children let out their frustrations and started complaining of the trouble that they had to go through having to carry the heavy and smelly potatoes wherever they go. Then the teacher told them the hidden meaning behind the game. The teacher said: "This is exactly the situation when you carry your hatred for somebody inside your heart. The stench of hatred will contaminate your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot tolerate the smell of rotten potatoes for just 1 week, can you imagine what is it like to have the stench of hatred in your heart for your lifetime???"
  
  Moral of the story:
  
  Throw away any hatred for anyone from your heart so that you will not carry sins for a lifetime. Forgiving others is the best attitude to take! Life is to be fortified by many friendship. To love and to be loved is the greatest happiness. Fate determines who comes into our lives.
  
  Even sometimes when our kids do not behave in the way we expect our general tendency is to give up, Read the life of St Monica who prayed for 18 years for the conversion of her son – who is now St. Augustine. In my own life my father too prayed for several to see this day. I was the naughtiest among the four kids he had. So don’t give upon your kids.
  
  In office or at our places of work : When we are persecuted at places we work the easiest option sometimes - to quit. Sometimes even in our prayer groups, when we feel we are not being treated the way we should the easiest way is to quit. Rarely do we see God’s hand in it all. Here I would like to say the verse that St Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 :
  8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body
But as Humans we still have that big WHY at the back of our minds we need to persevere? Why keep persevering ? Why continue the standing against the currents of fear, temptations, anger, loss, stress, impossibilities, misunderstanding and mistakes? Why keep waiting …because Christ wants to make something beautiful of our lives, Life is a task, we need the strength, not the speed to run from it. When things don’t seem the same we need to wait and see what perseverance have to offer.
- Willingness to accept whatever comes
- Strength to face ahead
- A determination to stand firm and an insight to see the Lord in it all.
Without Perseverance we can stumble and fall, and God is grieved. With Perseverance we survive and conquer , And God is glorified.

St Paul compares Christian life to a great marathon. A Christian can only persevere through prayer and with team work. Prayer is that tool which helps us run the race and persevere till the end. In conclusion let us together say in the words of St Paul in 2 Timothy 4:6-8 . 6For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.