Hang in there

There are extraordinarily painful realities before us. More and more, financial dilemmas are tearing us apart.  The loss of a loved one, deteriorating or abusive relationship or trying to cope with a broken one, grief can cloud our hope, life-threatening health crisis or struggle to endure a chronic condition, we can find ourselves nearly paralyzed emotionally and spiritually. 

The word "perseverance" can put us off, especially if it comes from someone who does not seem to understand what we are suffering.  We can think it just means, "you just have to endure this without feeling sorry for yourself." 

The actual Latin root of the word "persevere" can help us.  There are three parts of the word:  per - se - vere.  Loosely translated it says:  "by means of the truth."  We persevere by recalling and staying close to the truth.  What truth?  The truth of who we are and what our life is about. When we let the truth of God's love for us touch our wounds, we begin to taste our salvation.

Tribulation tests our identity as Christians. When we deal with tribulation as we should, it authenticates our true identity as believers. Tribulation tests our faith – "These [trials] have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:7). Tribulation tests our sense of purpose. 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.

Tribulation tests our obedience – "The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything" (2 Corinthians 2:9). We are tested to teach us to rely on God. Paul said to the Corinthians “We felt like we'd been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally--not a bad idea since he is the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he'll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing.”

Life is filled with true/false tests. Every day we are confronted with lies and misleading situations. To keep from being fooled we must be armed with the knowledge of God’s word. We should test ourselves to make sure we are solid in the faith. We should not drift along taking everything for granted. Regular checkups, firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay that Jesus Christ is in us. Test it out. If we fail the test, we do something about it. I hope the test will not show that we have failed.