Keeping at it?

One of the most difficult challenges I face is persevering. I’m interested in everything with a mind easily distracted. I easily become bored. I’m also somewhat lazy. Short-term tasks are not a problem. Even breaking down a larger one is helpful as long as the steps are clear with a beginning and an end. But give me a task that will last for weeks, months, years and I struggle to finish it.

Tozer says small deeds of love are not forgotten by God, so those little things are good too, but the focus is single-hearted obedience to Christ and a deep desire to glorify Him. For this, there is great reward, no matter how long it takes.

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:7–9)

Eternal life is not earned by my sowing and reaping but it is demonstrated and enhanced by doing good and not giving up. How does God teach this? Certainly the Holy Spirit is part of it for in my humanness I am like a baby who wants what I want when I want it — as in right now! I’m impatient and if things do not happen or get done ‘on time’ I become more impatient.

Yet God persists and in His persistence,  I’ve learned something about perseverance. For one thing, God never gives up on me. If He were not a persevering God, my pillar-to-post drifting would have annoyed Him to quitting a long time ago. When I read the Old Testament prophets spelling out the way His people pushed Him away and tested His patience to the limit, I wonder. He finally exiled them to Babylon where they would learn to hate idolatry, but even that was persistence. He would not give up on them, and He will not give up on me.

How does this translate into everyday life? I tell others that God has taught me persistence in several ways. Right now, the most prominent is through quilting, specifically one quilt. It is a king-size commissioned by a family member. It is huge, difficult (I had no pattern) and physically hard to manipulate. I’ve felt like quitting several times, have procrastinated and strayed off to other projects, but finally told myself that if this keeps up, I’ll die before it is done. All that kept me going is that I love this guy who wants it and I’m hoping God will be glorified in the doing.

Persist. The word runs through my head, followed by ‘but I don’t want to’ and the wrestling match begins. This happens with other things, the most important being prayer, particularly the prayer for which I don’t see answers. God tells me to keep at it for in due season there will be results if I don’t give up.

This week, we had a visitor — someone on that prayer list, someone whose attitude and values were far from God’s will. We have prayed years for this person — another way of learning perseverance. In our visit, we saw changes both in attitude and values, changes that brought tears of gratitude and gave us hope and determination to continue to pray.

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Lord Jesus, sticking to Your plan and doing what You say is seldom easy, even with the Holy Spirit giving me the heart to do it and the will to hang in there. Thank You so much for this glimpse of what You are doing in answer to our years of praying for this person. It gives me encouragement to keep praying, to keep on interceding for all others too. It also encourages me to get that quilt squared up and the binding in place, to finish well. Keep me relying on You for the motivation, the results and Your promised eternal rewards.