Perseverance is the ability to endure hardship or to persist in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving successs – a necessary and useful quality to have, but not one we generally like to talk about! Perseverance lacks glamour. It’s the ordinary ability to keep on doing something with determination even when you don’t particularly feel like doing it. It’s having a steadfast spirit which focuses on what is right, not what is convenient or expedient.

Perseverance is needed to achieve anything worthwhile, whatever skill or duty we are called to do. Whether it’s learning to swim or any other form of exercise, eating moderately, learning to play an instrument or to knit or sew, we need to learn to persevere if we are to achieve mastery of these things. Even if we are naturally talented in a field, mastery only comes with the regular discipline of practice and patience.

Many suppose that a life of faith is all about miracles, with God waving a magic wand for us to remove all obstacles. It comes as quite an unpleasant surprise, therefore, to find that suffering produces perseverance and that perseverance is the road which leads to character (Rom 5:1-4, James 1:2-4). Miracles are definitely a part of the life of faith, but there are times when God works through suffering, difficulities and trials to shape who we are.

Peter talks about virtues we need to add to our lives. He tells us that God’s divine power has given us (past tense) everything we need to live for Him (2 Pet 1:3) and talks about His ‘very great and precious promises‘ which sustain us. (2 Pet 1:4) But he then tells us to ‘make every effort’ to add to our faith goodness and knowledge and self-control and perseverance (and goes on to add mutual affection and love to the list.) (2 Pet 1:5-7) These, he says, are the qualities which stop us from living ineffective lives. (2 Pet 1:8)

Self-control and perseverance involve us making right choices on a consistent basis. Making right choices involves continual practice. Perseverance is what is needed to keep on doing the right thing. Heb 10:36 says, ‘You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what the Lord promised.’

My granddaughter recently received her 5 metres swimming certificate. After almost four years of weekly lessons, she proved that she could swim without armbands. It has taken a long time and much persistence to get to this point, and her excitement and joy when she achieved this to the satisfaction of her teacher were infectious; she literally jumped for joy. Her beaming face told the story of the benefits of perseverance. We too have the promise of a great reward if we persevere: ‘Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.’ (James 1:12) So let’s keep going!

Following the feeding of the four thousand, Jesus was tested by the Pharisees who wanted further signs from Him. Jesus spoke about the yeast of the Pharisees, but His disciples were slow to understand that he was no longer talking about literal bread. This prompted Jesus to ask them several challenging questions :‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” (Mark 8:17-19) They could answer the questions about the miracles, but the concluding question indicated that they were still looking at things from a natural perspective only: “Do you still not understand?” (Mark 8:21)

A life of faith is a constant challenge to see and understand spiritual truths, rather than relying only on what we can see and understand with natural vision. As Is 43:18-19 makes plain, we need to perceive and understand rather than simply see. The disciples needed to see beyond the practical side of Jesus’s miracles to the spiritual truths He wanted to teach. They needed to go beyond the Pharisees’ arrogance and demanding attitude (they constantly asked for signs, as Matt 16:1, John 2:18, John 6:30 indicate.) Asking God for signs is not necessarily wrong (Gideon certainly needed God to confirm His calling to Him and God was gracious enough to do that), but the pervasive attitude of refusing to believe and trust God is one we must avoid at all costs.

We must understand that God looks beyond appearances to the heart and the heart attitude is vital in a life of faith. (1 Sam 16:6-7, Prov 4:23, Jer 17:9) Hard hearts are a stumbling-block to walking with God, so we need to allow the water of His word to soften our hearts. Similarly, we need the anointing of God’s Spirit to remove our spiritual ‘wax’ from our ears so we can hear even His gentle whisper and we need God to open our eyes to see the invisible. Remembering is crucial to this process, but it must be a remembering which acts as a spur to faith, not a remembrance that makes a statue out of God’s past actions. Each act of remembrance should be a prod in the direction of trusting Him for more today.

God wants us to have soft hearts, clear vision and sharp hearing. This may no longer be possible in the natural realm as we age and decay! – but it is possible in the spiritual realm. Paul told the Corinthians, ‘Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.’ (2 Cor 4:16) We may be ‘wasting away’ naturally as we age, but spiritually, renewal and revival are possible at any age. Being spiritually aware and sensitive to God’s Spirit will help us to weather the storms of life and both remember and understand spiritual truths. Then we can become a blessing to others as we speak God’s words to them and offer the words of eternal life to all.

Dave spoke this morning from Luke 23:39-43 about the penitent thief, crucified alongside Jesus. Many consider his salvation an affront since he could do nothing but believe in Jesus, but this incident shows us the mercy and compassion of the Lord and how while there is breath in our bodies, it’s not too late to be saved.

One of the thieves hurled insults at Jesus, but here we see that there can be grace in the unlikeliest of places. Like Saul, who persecuted the church but met with Jesus to become the apostle Paul, God steps in in miraculous ways to soften the other thief’s heart. He confesses his sin and the sinlessness of Christ, recognising that Christ’s death was unjust. His healthy fear of God means he suddenly recognises that he has blasphemed God and violated God’s laws. As he reaches out to Jesus, Jesus promises that he will be with Him in paradise. Forgiveness and restoration are freely offered to him and he is saved.

This incident often offends those who feel that ‘death-bed conversions’ make a mockery of God. The truth is we are all saved by grace through faith, and this is itself God’s gift to us. (Eph 2:8-10) We cannot save ourselves and need the mercy, grace, forgiveness and kindness of God, no matter when we become Christians. Even while dying, Jesus cared about this man’s eternal destiny; He cares so much about our world still. Jude 1:22-23 says, ‘Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear…’ May we speak God’s offer of forgiveness and hope to all we meet.

Over the past two days we have been busy spring cleaning. This has involved tidying, throwing away things we no longer need, cleaning and painting. Our thanks to all who have helped us.