Of all the things to be complimented on, being praised for just still being there is something of an odd one. You are being congratulated not for succeeding, or for excellence, but for not having given up yet. It’s a nod to the tortoise over the hare. Slow and steady wins the race or maybe we’re just giving a pat on the back not to the medal winners but all the finishers.

As the years pass, and unsurprisingly, increasingly as the years pass I have been complimented on ‘not giving up’ or been commended for my ‘perseverance’. I don’t mind this nod to this double-edged side to my character, for the line between Perseverance, stubbornness and pig-headedness is sometimes wafer thin.

I happen to think that perseverance is a church planting essential as well as being a Christian essential. One of the most obvious shortcomings of the great dechurching or secularising is that somewhere along the line the church discovered it had a critical shortage of perseverance but realised far too late.

So how do we develop perseverance? There are number of very human things we can do from setting a sustainable pace to life, surrounding yourself with friends who encourage, being clear about your calling, counting your blessings, remembering God’s faithfulness, having fun, having a flexible methodology, being constant in your convictions and many more. These things all add up to a really strong scaffolding to life and Faith. However valuable all those things are, and they are, it’s worth reminding ourselves on what the Bible says about perseverance and where it comes from and how to cultivate it.

They first start with the reminder that we only ever realise we need perseverance or endurance when we encounter some kind of headwind. With the wind at your back and things going your way, keeping going is much, much easier. Slogging it out requires guts, grit and perseverance in spades.

But if we are unprepared for the tough times then the tough times get much harder. Take Romans 5:1-5 for example.

Faith > Peace > Grace > Rejoicing

We have been justified. How? By faith.
The result? Peace with God.

So faith in Christ has justified us before God and given us peace between God and us. A good start. But this same faith has also given us access into grace in which we stand. So Christ has moved us by faith to a new foundation, from where we have a new perspective. We now stand not on the ground of self-justification, self-righteousness or self-anything but onto the ground of grace. We see the gifts for what they are. All of this is reason to rejoice. A present experience and a future hope of the glory of God. Two good reasons to rejoice.

So my first big tip in learning perseverance is regular full-throated, wholehearted participation in the act of genuine, face altering (smile, laugh, cry), hands and head lifting, soul-filling rejoicing in the good, glorious, grace of God. Learning how to rejoice in the good times is a key foundation to learning to rejoice in the bad times.

Which is what Romans 5 offers us next: suffering. But suffering properly seen is a reason to rejoice for all sorts of reasons (being counted worthy of Christ for example) but here because of what suffering can do for us.

Suffering > Endurance > Character > Hope

This straight development line seems designed to make us think about the future when we won’t be suffering anymore. That there will be an end to the struggle is in itself a reason not to give up. It won’t last forever.

But Paul brings the future right back to the present experience. How do we know that our hope won’t disappoint us and leave us shamed? Because the guarantee of our future hope is our present experience of the love of God poured out into hearts through the Holy Spirit. A deposit, a guarantee for the future.

Hope > Love > Holy Spirit

Which brings us back to our faith and new life in Christ which is a reason to rejoice.

And Paul has already given his model for how this works in Abraham who he says, ‘no unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.’ ¹

Rejoicing strengthens faith which enables us not to waver. To persevere.

So how do we just keep going? Learn to rejoice because God is and has been gracious, kind, and loving to you.

1. Romans 4:20-21

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