Why Persevere?

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Read 2 Peter 1:5-7; James 1:2-4

I heard a discussion recently that centered on perseverance. Everyone there agreed - perseverance is a very good thing and is very important when times get rough. It will help see you through to the outcome you desire. Then someone added a caveat. She said that there comes a time when you may see that the outcome is not going to be what you wanted, so then it’s time to let go of perseverance. The trick, most agreed, was knowing when this was the case.
Something in this didn’t sit right with me. As I looked around at all the nodding heads, I found myself asking out loud, “I wonder, is there value in perseverance even when the outcome is not what you had imagined?”
Because of the setting, it was left hanging as a rhetorical question, but I have been reflecting on it ever since. If perseverance is only desirable if we can hope for a particular outcome, we are putting our hope in the outcome, and not in God or His word. We are settling for a human perspective when a godly one will be much more satisfying. We hope not in the outcome we can see, but in the unseen, eternal outcomes – those we may know nothing about at the time.
The Bible tells us that perseverance is something we need in the Christian maturing process. It strengthens our character and brings us to a place where we are lacking nothing that we need to live out our faith.
There are days when we wonder, “Is this worth it? Am I anywhere close to achieving the outcome I want to see?” That’s when we also have to ask, “Is there value in perseverance even when the outcome is not what you had imagined?” Maybe the outcome God has in mind is in your own life – a change brought into maturity through perseverance.

Put your trust in God, not in the outcome.
·         In what part of your life or work are you tempted to give up?
·         What outcome might God have in mind where you are led to persevere?

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