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By Perseverance the Snail Reached the Ark
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James 1: 2-4 says “My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, 3 for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure. 4 Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” In the classic movie, Chariots of Fire, the champion sprinter, Harold Abrahams, was sulking over a first time defeat. Finding his way to some nearby bleachers, he sat down and spiraled into depression. Seeing his condition, his girlfriend tried to lift his spirits. Refusing to be comforted, he cried out, “If I can’t win I won’t run!” To which she wisely replied, “If you don’t run you can’t win!” Abrahams went on to win the hundred meter run in the 1924 Olympics and took home a gold medal. Abrahams won his race because he persevered when tempted to quit. In out text, James tells us that trials are actually blessings disguised as problems. They are allowed by God for the purpose of teaching us to persevere. Once perseverance is branded into our character, we experience spiritual maturity. Perseverance enables us to keep on keeping on with a victorious attitude and a joyful heart. twithout perseverance you and I will faint in the way and never reach God’s best. This is why the Bible encourages, “So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest” (Galations 6:9). The temptation comes to us all to give up, walk away, and say “If I can’t win, I won’t run.” This is when we must learn to take our cue from the greatest Perseverer of all, the Lord Jesus Christ. “Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross!” (Hebrews12:2). Jesus refused to quit the race even though the dark and gory cross awaited Him. Instead, He focused on “the joy that was set before Him.” Jesus’ eyes were locked in on what lay on the other side of His suffering, and He persevered on. In the days following the invention of electricity, the effort got under way to provide this wonderful new power source to all of the towns and places that had been built when folks depended solely on candle and lantern power for light. First one town and then another experienced the miracle of flipping a switch to experience immediate light and power! But for the electricians doing all the work, the process of getting power to the next town was often daunting. Time and again they were forced to cut wide swaths through densely wooded forests. Hills and mountains were laboriously crossed in order to reach their destination. They encountered wild animals and poisonous snakes on a regular basis. Indeed, the task sometimes seemed impossible. Many quit. But those who successfully got the job done soon hit on a key. Rather than focusing on the vast distance and difficult obstacles, they broke their job down into bite size chunks. Their motto became, “Dig a hole, set a pole, string a wire.” In other words, We don’t have to go all the way from A to Z in one day,” they thought. Today we shall be content to dig a few holes, set a few poles, and string a little more wire! This new viewpoint enabled them to view their task in a way that made it doable. The fact is we often lose our perseverance because we’re focused on the entire project rather than a “one day at a time” approach. We view our trial in its entirety and say, “No way I will ever get through this.” But the best approach is to say, “Today I will dig a hole, set a pole, and string a wire. I may not reach the end, but I will get one hole, one pole, and one wire closer!” One day those early pioneers would dig their final hole, set the last pole, and string the last wire and the town lit up! It’s the same with you and me. As we persevere with a “one day at a time” attitude, we finally reach our destination. The power of God is released into our situation and the victory comes. So don’t give up. You may be digging your last hole, setting your last pole, and stringing your last wire today! |
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