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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

sticking to it

 
 

For our editorial thought today I'd like to discuss the idea with you of "sticking to it." The idea of "persevering" in an endeavor with the endeavor being living a Christian life and serving, as faithfully as we're able, the cause of Christ. And, in the furtherance of this effort I'm going to cite an example from the Bible and also a few secular illustrations that I hope will help get the point of the lesson across.

Interestingly enough, the English word "perseverance" is only used one time in the entire Bible and that being in Eph. 6:18 where Paul is teaching a lesson on the constancy of prayer. But, the idea of "perseverance" is found throughout the Bible and is seen in words like "steadfastness" (Col. 2:5), "constant" (1Chr. 28:7) and even in the phrase "singleness of heart" as used in Acts 2:46 and Eph. 6:5. All of these uses and meanings are talking about one thing - being constant & steadfast in our service to God. Persevering in our belief in the promises of God.

Being a "persevering" person is a fairly easy thing to do when all is going well, isn't it? But, as we know all too well in this life, things don't always go that well, do they? We have trials come upon us in various forms and fashions that have a tendency to test our faith. Storms that hit us that prove how steadfast and sure our foundation really is. It's at these times that we have to "persevere." We have to be "steadfast" and have "singleness of heart" in being faithful and true to Christ.

Back in the Old Testament, we find God's worker, Nehemiah, tasked by God with rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. This was not an easy job and Nehemiah labored for a long time at it. You can follow this story by reading the first six chapters of Nehemiah and you'll read there that he faced a lot of adversity in building this wall.

Enemies of God's people didn't like the fact that they were back and fortifying the city. They began a campaign to stop the construction, first by ridiculing the efforts of Nehemiah and the people. One of them (Tobiah) went so far as to say that it was so weak that it would collapse if a fox ran across it. As if to say, why persist in an endeavor that seems useless.

When the ridiculing didn't work, they then tempted Nehemiah to stop his work and take a rest and meet with them to discuss the work. He didn't stop, but rather persevered on. When threats of violence and fighting came from the consortium of enemies that didn't halt the work either. The workers just armed themselves and kept right on building. Even the spreading of vicious and untruthful rumors didn't deter Nehemiah from his duty. He remained steadfast and constant. He persevered.

That's our Biblical example for our topic, so now let's look at a few secular examples of perseverance that I think all can relate to and see a parabolic type lesson.

The first one takes us back to the 1870's and a conversation between the Bishop of a denominational church's area and the President of a small religious college located in the Bishop's area of oversight. On one of his visits, the Bishop told the president that everything that can be invented has been. The President disagreed and said that, "In 50 years people will learn to fly like birds." The Bishop's reply to this was: "Flight is reserved for birds and angels and you Sir, are guilty of blasphemy!"

What's interesting about this little conversation is, first the Bishop's name was Milton Wright. And the second is, that he had two sons named Orville and Wilbur. From history we know that they were not discouraged from their belief and endeavors by the attitude of their father. To see their perseverance look at the industry that they helped pioneer.

The name DeWitt Wallace probably won't mean anything to most of you, but his perseverance in something he believed in resulted in something that is certainly familiar to all of us. See, he had the idea for a magazine comprised of a collection of condensed articles. He proposed his idea to several publishers and no one was interested.

About this time he met and married a lady by the name of Lila Bell Acheson and she encouraged him to keep pursuing his magazine idea. He mailed letters to potential subscribers and then he and Lila went on their honeymoon. When they returned they found a bunch of letters from people interested in subscribing to his magazine so he and Lila put out Vol. 1, Number 1 in February of 1922. Since that time their little magazine has grown to become the best-selling magazine in the world and is printed in 21 different languages - The Reader's Digest.

Our last secular illustration shows us again how perseverance in a belief pays off. A man by the name of Fred Smith attended Yale University and wrote a paper in his management class proposing the concept of starting a reliable overnight delivery service. His professor returned his paper to him with the following notation on it: "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible."

I see this as similar to the consortium of kings opposing Nehemiah as if saying: don't waste your time on a useless endeavor. Or, Bishop Wright's ridiculing of the school Principle's idea that man would someday fly. Or, the publishers' rejection of DeWitt Wallace's concept of a new magazine. Waste of time and effort. Oh, by the way, Fred Smith started a little business called FedEx.

The lesson: we've got to persevere, be steadfast and have singleness of heart in what we believe in - the salvation of man through the Gospel of Christ.

Ron Covey

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