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Check out today's Bible reading with me now.
So don’t throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It’s still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion. But we’re not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We’ll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way. Hebrews 10:35-36, 39 (MSG)
I have always admired people who have perseverance. Sometimes I wonder if I have this quality in my life as fully as I should. This world can make it so easy to just cut and run when the going gets tough. This is especially the case when victim thinking is in control of our lives.
I have found that there is a fine line between being obsessed over the completion of something we are part of and using common sense with regards to when is the right time to just move on. There are people in this world who just can't give up no matter what. That's a great quality to have in many situations. In some areas of life, that quality is borderline sick. Being obsessed with getting the job done might be the very thing that makes you a victimizer in the lives of those who love you. Having an obsession to get things done, when tied to something we believe impacts our identity, is nothing more than victim thinking ruling the roost.
Unfortunately, judging when obsession has moved into the danger area is difficult to do until damage occurs. It is usually after we have caused other people harm by our focused actions at getting something done that we wake up to the fact we have gone too far. Today, I'd like to use our Bible reading to help us figure out how to make perseverance be what God wants it to be in the life of a victor.
Perseverance is defined as applying the quality of "steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success". That's a pretty broad definition. No wonder perseverance can be a strength and a weakness in our lives. If we use perseverance in the wrong way we are prone to damaging those closest to us in ways we never intended. Let's look at perseverance from God's perspective and see what we can learn about victor living.
One thing I notice immediately about what God sees when He talks about perseverance is the fact that He doesn't really care about the relative worldly success that we may have in areas where we have to persevere. So many of us think of perseverance as a trait we need that, when applied properly, will make the good things of this life possible. Some actually use the Bible to back them up on this line of thinking.
Paul talks about athletic events and the perseverance required to "win the race." The winning Paul is alluding to isn't being on top. It isn't getting all we want out of life. Paul is talking about making it through this life and stepping into the next with a relationship with this God that has made a difference in our world. Thinking that perseverance is a tool we can use to get what we want is what makes victim thinking possible in our lives.
When God talks about perseverance, He is talking about letting faith help us stay the course. It is about not giving up on who God says we are. It is about not giving up on God. Odds are that things will come our way that will make us want to give up on God's call in our lives. It is during those times that God doesn't want us to give up on Him. Give up on the things you do, but never give up on who you are. Though we may be forced to give up on what we are doing because of bad times, we aren't to give up on who we are no matter how good or bad our life is at this moment.
That's what our reading today is emphatically presenting. The second line says, "You were sure of yourselves then." Paul is talking about a time when the audience first believed in Jesus. That was such a sweet time for these new believers. They had just come into contact with who they really were through their savior. Because of Jesus, they could see that their identity was rooted in the fact that the All-Mighty God called them His child.
Then the bad times hit. Ridicule, Rejection and Persecution came at them in ways that made them doubt the power behind an identity bought and paid for by God Himself. Paul reminds his audience that, nothing has changed. In other words, the bad times don't mean a thing when it comes to who you are. You are just as much God's Child in the good times as you are in the bad. That truth is to be the basis of the faith we need to persevere in our lives today.
When I wondered earlier whether I had the quality of perseverance in my life, I was thinking about this trait with regards to what I have been able to accomplish. I often think about those times of failure in my life that might have been different had I hung on for just a bit longer. This is a victim thinker's way of looking at life. Regret filled living is what makes doubts as to who we are come alive in identity crushing ways. God hates when I use perseverance, or the seemingly lack thereof, as proof that I am less than what He says I am.
God doesn't look at whether I get the job done or not as a measure of who I am. He wants me to let who I am be the power behind what I do in this life of mine. I'm not to let perseverance be a tool to bring guilt into my life. I'm to persevere in letting what God says about me be the confidence needed to take one more step where God is leading. It is when I give up on who I am that failure becomes that much more difficult to deal with.
What are you about to give up on today? This isn't a message to make you keep doing what you have been doing all along. In fact, I recommend you do something different. Stop and take the time today to let God show you how you are to persevere. I know for a fact, that He is much more concerned with you persevering in who you are than in what you are doing, if you are connecting the success to your actions to your identity.
Don't throw it all away by giving up on who God says you are. Let perseverance be applied by having faith in who you are. That's where the power to make happen all God wants for your life comes from. God has a promised completion in mind for those areas where your identity needs to be seen in your life. Walk with a confidence in the knowledge of who you are and be obsessed with seeing your identity play out fully in your life today.
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