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Health & Fitness

Faith and Perseverance–You Can't Have One Without the Other

I have learned the hard way that perseverance is not required to possess faith in something. Perseverance is a by-product of faith. Perseverance is faith in action.

You all have been there as a kid. An older sibling–either yours or a friend’s–has decided it would be a lot of fun to inflict suffering on the youngsters while getting the satisfaction of an acknowledgement of his superiority.

OK, maybe it is just a guy thing, but what usually happens next is that you end up in a head-lock or some sort of arm-lock. Pain and embarrassment follow as you struggle and then the command comes from your tormentor that you’ve been waiting for.

”Say uncle!” And when the words leave your lips, the pain ends and your tormentors scurry off laughing as they contemplate their next antisocial act of aggression.

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While I may be still a little bitter from those experiences as a child-I also couldn’t help but make a comparison to the way we are tempted to give up when things in our lives become uncomfortable or unbearable. How we endure difficult times when we are trying to achieve something is a sure test of how committed we are to achieving the goal in the first place.

When I consider why I stick with some things and cry uncle on others, I often turn to a couple of examples of people who are, to me, the epitome of perseverance: Thomas Edison and the Apostle Paul.

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Edison is well known for his attitude of seeing a problem through all the way to a solution without giving up.

As an example, he said regarding his work to improve the light bulb: "If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward."

Maybe less well known but still reflective of his attitude about achieving goals are quotes like: “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”

“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”

And one of my favorites: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Clearly, Edison believed hard work and stick-to-it-iveness were the keys to success. Sacrifice and endurance were necessary parts of seeing something through to completion.

While not a man of faith, Edison shared the same “never give up attitude” the Apostle Paul demonstrated in his ministry to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul’s attitude is expressed in Philippians 3:13-14.

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

But even Paul admitted he faced considerable adversity in his work. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, he delivers a list of trials he endured for the cause of Christ.

“I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.”

Yet despite such suffering and pressure, Paul stayed committed to the mission he was called to complete. Again he made statements like this one in Acts 20:24, which demonstrates his level of commitment.

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”

For both of these men, the thought of giving up and walking away from their work was something that may have been tempting, but it did not win over their determination to keep on going, fighting a little more, holding out a little longer, straining to see the task done.

For Edison, his faith in his abilities and an uncommon work ethic made him strive for success.

For the Apostle Paul, it was his unswerving faith in God and his commitment to a task he believed was worth sacrificing everything he had to achieve.

I draw inspiration from their examples and can relate to their attitude in my own work. For me and the folks who have started out down the path of operating a Christian school in South St. Louis city and expanding it to Fenton, we call our commitment to our work being “all in.”

The phrase is one borrowed from gambling, but to us it means leaving nothing behind and committing every resource fully to a cause we know God is calling us to take on.

Some might explain our commitment as only plain stubbornness or stupidity. But it could also be something else too, couldn’t it?

I have learned the hard way is that perseverance is not required to possess faith in something. Perseverance is a by-product of faith. Perseverance is faith in action. Perseverance is a result of someone believing strongly in what they are doing and making a commitment to it regardless of how hard the task seems or how great the sacrifices that will have to be made.

School starts at Living Faith Christian Academy in Fenton on Sept. 6 and in South St. Louis city by mid-September. Both of these schools are starting after facing many trials and overcoming many obstacles. While formidable and scary, none have been enough to stop the progress – a fact for which I thank God for daily.

I bet that if you could ask Edison or Paul if it was worth it to endure such hardship and frustration to achieve something without having any guarantee of success, they would say it was worth every minute of it. I think I’m now starting to see why.

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