Perseverance

Have you ever felt like giving up? We all do, especially when it seems like the work is taking forever or it is hard for us to do. But there is a special promise to those who won’t give up. In Galatians 6:9 it says: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

To reap means to get the results of what we work for. When you plant cucumber seeds, you want the reward of eating cucumbers. But if you gave up part way through, would you have your reward? No. You must persevere and never give up until you are done. Maybe you start by getting the soil ready and watering the plant when it is little. That is good. But if you let the weeds choke it out or never picked the cucumbers, you wouldn’t reap them. All the work you did would be wasted.

Everything that is good in life takes perseverance. To have a clean room, you mustn’t give up until it is clean. To learn to ride a bike, you mustn’t give up until you have learned. To play the piano well, you mustn’t give up until you have mastered it. Is there something you want? You will not have it unless you persevere through all difficulties and never give up.

There is something much more valuable than cucumbers or fine piano playing for you to have. It is something that everyone wants, but most people give up on. What is this wonderful thing? It is “the crown of life”* (James 1:12) promised to those who will never give up. A crown that is given to those that love Jesus their whole life through and serve Him until they die. Will you have one? Then you must ask God for the perseverance to never give up.