You Have Need of Perseverance

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. (Hebrews 10:36)

In this New Testament passage, the writer of Hebrews exhorts the church to persevere in their faith, so that they may obtain the promised reward. You can read the full chapter here; the context is that of a church where some Christians were falling away or being persecuted for their faith. Christians historically (in the context of the letter to the Hebrews) needed perseverance to endure the period of suffering they were encountering. Christians today need perseverance as well.

But it’s not so much intense suffering that I wanted to consider today. It’s more a question of vocabulary, and how we might think well about little (or big) inconveniences.

The word “perseverance” stuck out to me here. In our current self-improvement-obsessed days, I don’t hear much about perseverance. I hear a great deal about “consistency” instead. If you want results in your workouts, you’ve got to hit the gym every day. If you want to excel in your job, you’ve got to show up every day and be consistently excellent. If you want to change your diet, you need to eat well every day.

This is all well and good, and for the most part, I agree! Annie Dillard reminds us that “the way we spend our days is…how we spend our lives.” Tiny daily efforts help us chip away at a larger goal. If we want to be a person who lives with intentionality towards good goals, we must take that identity up each day.

The only trouble is, the only truly consistent thing—especially when you have people in your life—is inconsistency. Once you get used to a sleep schedule, the baby will learn to crawl and wake up each night at 2 AM. Once you get the school-and-work schedule balanced, someone will get sick and need to be picked up. As soon as you’re in a routine with errands and exercise, your car will break down and need your attention.

What we need, then, is not consistency, but resilience; perseverance. We will inevitably encounter roadblocks, stumbling points, and obstacles. If we were hoping for consistency, we will immediately grow discouraged when we do. If we’re perfectionists, we can add in a healthy dose of shame when we don’t perform consistently as a result of circumstance.

On the other hand, if we are planning on upsets, detours, and the unplanned, we’ll not be surprised when they occur. It’s never pleasant when things don’t go according to plan, but if we maintain a resilient posture, we’ll bounce back a bit more quickly.

Remember what Mr. Lewis taught us about interruptions?

The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life — the life God is sending one day by day.