Persevering in an instant gratification world

You and I are Christians today because of many, many people who received the faith from their parents and passed it on from one generation to another.

We as Christians have a very long history of 2,000 years. At the very beginning of that history are people who persevered in the faith. They faced many difficulties in spreading the gospel and faith in Jesus Christ. However, they refused to give in or give up.

Perseverance requires an extensive and broad view of life. We must be willing to work at things although we might not live to see the results of our work. To do this, we have to see ourselves as part of a larger picture. We must see ourselves as a community of people who believe in goodness and mercy, and who are willing to work in the most difficult circumstances so that others, in the future, might benefit from our work.

The virtue of perseverance is not popular today because people want to see immediate results. This is a negative aspect of our culture. However, we all know that we will not see the results of many things that we do including our own acts of love and faith.

Many things we do will have extensive and long-lasting effects, but we never get to see those results.

In St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:6-7) Sometimes keeping the faith involves gritting your teeth and bearing it. Sometimes the only thing left to do after everything else is done, is to persevere.

The opposite is giving up.

Let’s face it. Keeping the faith is difficult. Believing makes continual demands on us. Loving our enemies, refusing to criticize or judge, putting our prejudices aside, treating everyone fairly, sharing our money and possessions with those who have less – these and many other challenges of our faith can only be lived when we have a firm conviction that this is the way Jesus calls us to live.

An important part of perseverance is our confidence in God. We can face any difficulty because we believe that God is always there for us and can get us through any situation.

In every concrete situation we face, the limitless power of God must be so real to us that it makes everything else seem less significant.

God is always more powerful than any human force.

An eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it comes. The eagle will fly to some high point and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher.

When storms of life come upon us, we can rise above them by setting our mind and our belief toward God. The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow God’s power to lift us above them. God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives.

We can soar above the storm. We may fail often, but we only become failures when we begin to blame someone else. The Bible says, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.” (Isaiah 40:31)

I pray that we can all say the words of St. Paul: “The Lord stood by me and gave me strength.” May we have the same faith to know that God will help us through any difficulty.