Do you desire to persevere in the new year?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
(Hebrews 12:1 (NIV))

We have a decision to make. Do we want to proceed on our typical status quo for the new year or do we want to persevere in our faith? Far too many times it is just so much easier to keep doing what we are doing, even if it is not all that we should be doing. Faith is not a single decision and then the rest of your life is good. That single decision should start you on a path for the rest of your life. Paul referred to this path as a race. It is a race that those who profess a faith in Jesus should desire to complete. It is a race that we should desire to win, for every person who completes this race wins the prize!

How do you complete this race?

We complete this race by staying the course. That course is following Jesus. We are to follow Jesus each and ever day of our lives. We are to trust Jesus each and every day of our lives.

If you sign up to run a race and you stop running two minutes into the race, do you finish? You don’t receive a prize. Do you even receive the t-shirt that says you ran the race? Running a race requires commitment. It requires determination. It requires keeping your eyes on the prize and pushing through to the end. The very same thing is true of our walk of faith with Jesus. We can’t simply stop following Him two minutes, or at any time, after we make a decision to follow Him, and still reach the goal. Following Jesus requires perseverance. It requires commitment. It requires faith to take up our cross.

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
(Luke 9:23 (NIV))

Daily!

We cannot decide to take a break from Jesus. We cannot decide to go spend the rest of our life following our sinful nature and still expect to hear these words from Jesus.

His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”
(Matthew 25:21 (NIV))

Being a good and faithful servant means that we persevere in our faith. It means that we run the race daily and that we strive to live our lives after what Jesus showed us. It won’t always be easy, but it will always be full of blessings, for He will lead you where you never thought about going. One day, your race will be finished and it is my prayer that you will hear these words from Jesus.