Pat Jones / Lead Pastor
I think a lot. My heart and mind are drawn to meditate on the connection between what the Lord often repeats in Scripture and my long-term observations about life. A word that keeps coming to mind for me is perseverance.
In John 6, people are walking away from Jesus because what He is teaching is hard. He turns and asks the disciples if they are leaving too. They ask, “Where else can we go? You alone have the Word of life.” There is no other option.
In the Revelation, over and over again in chapter 2 and 3, the Spirit speaks to those in the churches to “hold on,” “persevere,” “do my will to the end.” This is a picture of constancy and not shrinking back. We quit too soon when things get hard. Rather than holding on to Christ alone we shrink back. And this word of encouragement is given in Hebrews 10: “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”
But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
When I get discouraged or see things that are not as I wish they were, when the obvious tells me one thing but my heart of faith tells me another, I am running to Christ and not into the pit of despair. I am holding on and persevering in Him, confident in what He says because there is no other option. He alone is the One who is faithful and true. If you are discouraged today, I encourage you to do the same. Where else can you turn? Life is found nowhere else.
In John 6, people are walking away from Jesus because what He is teaching is hard. He turns and asks the disciples if they are leaving too. They ask, “Where else can we go? You alone have the Word of life.” There is no other option.
In the Revelation, over and over again in chapter 2 and 3, the Spirit speaks to those in the churches to “hold on,” “persevere,” “do my will to the end.” This is a picture of constancy and not shrinking back. We quit too soon when things get hard. Rather than holding on to Christ alone we shrink back. And this word of encouragement is given in Hebrews 10: “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”
But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
When I get discouraged or see things that are not as I wish they were, when the obvious tells me one thing but my heart of faith tells me another, I am running to Christ and not into the pit of despair. I am holding on and persevering in Him, confident in what He says because there is no other option. He alone is the One who is faithful and true. If you are discouraged today, I encourage you to do the same. Where else can you turn? Life is found nowhere else.