Perseverance

Perseverance

      The sweet taste of anticipation. Can you feel it? Come on, we're waiting for more. Bring it on. Oh JOY, more trials!

     Hmmm. Really?

     A few months ago Greg Ralston preached on the first chapter in James. My take-away was the word perseverance. How do we get it and why do we want it?

     James 1:2 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds." Often I can see the benefit after a trial is over. Lessons drawn from the dark memory in the review mirror. But joy before the trial, or seeing one coming right at you? That's a different story. And being smack dab in the middle of a tragedy? No, it's not so easy.

     For us to have joy during a trial there must be a payoff. What is the reason for us to jump up and down with excitement when the ground shakes at a coming fear. Going on in James to verse three it says, ^"because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." 

     Perseverance is grabbing on like the roots of the tree with a storm blasting through its branches. It says keep going though your lungs are about to burst. Step forward and love the outcasts, even if no one else does. Hang on to life, though death is an easy matter of giving up. Risk losing life for others, even if saving it takes doing nothing.

     But how does having perseverance help us? James 1:4 tells us, "Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Mature, like knowing God is trustworthy and we're not panicking like a small child. Complete, as in complete confidence in God. Not lacking in anything, not courage, faith, or wisdom the next time the trials come chasing us.  

Free but not Cheap

     "We'll never know how much it cost, to see our sin upon that cross." The words to that song kept going through my mind as Pastor Greg Ralston preached this sermon.

     Does it seem to you that when something is free it doesn't have the same value to you as when you had to pay for it? This is how Greg approached the subject. By accepting what Christ has done for us we need be aware of what it cost Jesus to give it.

     That week my Bible study had the same theme. It urged us to consider the cost for Jesus. For Him to be bound by time, in a human body, for holiness to take on the burden of all sin. His death, though cruel and violent, held only a fraction of the sacrifice paid.

     In my sketch Jesus is giving the gift of salvation to a young girl. She sees the gift and reaches for Christ's hand to receive it. But does she see the cost, though it's right in front of her? If we saw the blood, endured the pain ourselves, the loss of heaven, the burden of sin would we want to do more, be more for Christ? Maybe if we truly recognized His sacrifice we'd love God with a greater strength and strive harder to become like Him. Not out of guilt or payment, but out of an understanding of the price paid.

     Like most of us if we received a free ticket to a football game we would appreciate the gesture. But would we go directly to the benches, or get right in the game?

     Let's get out of the stands and on to the field. Who's in?