Hi Ladies,
We’ve made it to the last full week of May! I don’t know if you’ve needed the exhortations to persevere as much as I have, but with the high number of admonitions in Scripture, it seems as if God knew we would all need them at some point. 🙂
This final week, we will focus on what He says about persevering in the faith, or our belief in Him. The Bible has some strong warnings about this... so much so that many people (perhaps maybe even some of you) grew up thinking that you could lose your salvation.
As with many other topics in Scripture, this one is so important to consider in light of the WHOLE of Scripture. I've heard it said that nearly every heresy is born out of scripture, meaning that it is possible to take a verse or part of a verse and develop a system of belief around it that goes against what the rest of the Bible teaches. This is why we need to know our whole Bible!
Because this is a big topic, I’m going to do my best to give you a high-level view. And if you desire to dig more, I will gladly help you do so. 😊
First, it’s abundantly clear that we must continue in the faith, or continue believing the gospel (who God is, what He has done for us, who we were and now are in Christ, etc). Read the passages below for a small taste:
- “
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” (1 Cor. 15:1-2)
- “
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.” (Col. 1:21-23a)
- “
And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Mk. 13:13)
- The book of Hebrews is essentially one big exhortation to persevere and not give in to unbelief. But here are a few specific examples: “For
you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,
‘Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.’...
Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…. Consider
… so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” (Heb. 10:36-38, 12:1-3)
This perseverance is a perseverance to the end - to the finish line where our sanctification becomes glorification… where our faith becomes sight! But maybe you are thinking thoughts like, “This feels impossible! What about my doubts? My eyes keep losing sight of the finish line. I failed… again! Why would God allow so much struggle?” We could all add more.
Every Word is God-breathed and profitable. So we cannot gloss over these passages. But now that we’ve seen how real and clear these warnings are, let’s look at what else He tells us:
- “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” (1 Th. 5:22-23)
- “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (Rom. 8:28-30)
- “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Pet. 1:3-5)
- “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24-25)
These passages are glorious! I wish we had time and space to unpack each of them. But to summarize, we are able to persevere because God has promised to preserve us. Do you hear that ladies? If you are His, you will persevere. Not without hard work. Not without tears. Not without discouragements and doubts. But you will persevere.
And as I’ve been reminding us (from Scripture!), part of God’s means of enabling us to persevere is the gift of the body, the church. We need to be reminding each other of who He is, what He has done and continues to do, who we are, and all that lies ahead. These kinds of exhortations protect us from unbelief (Heb. 3:13).
And that is a huge responsibility - and privilege - we have toward one another.
So let’s pray for ourselves and for one another this week, that we would work hard to persevere in belief, fully trusting that God will be faithful to preserve us to the end. And through His power in us, let’s make sure we do all we can to spur each other across the finish line as well. ❤️🙏🏼
