Add to your faith: Perseverance

Well it has been a few days since I added to this lesson series on 2 Peter 1. Thank you for your patience, I had the joy of getting to take a last minute trip out of town before school started, and it was very encouraging and refreshing. (By the way, if you are interested in seeing more about my life here in South Korea.you can follow me on Instagram @ lovephotographyandcoffee.

I have really enjoyed and learned a lot from this study so far, and hope it has been a blessing to you too. Feel free to like or comment on any lessons, and let me know if you have any questions.

So now, continuing where we left off last week, in 2 Peter 1, we are taught to "supplement", or "add" to our faith. Our last lesson was to add to our knowledge, self-control. Today let's look at adding to our self-control, perseverance.

Perseverance is translated from the word, ὑπομονήν, which is often used in the New Testament. Sometimes it is translated as perseverance, other times patient continuance, endurance, steadfastness and patient waiting. All of these different English translations give us a nice full picture of what this character quality and fruit of the Spirit is about. Perseverance is about continuing in godliness faithfully, with endurance through temptation and suffering and waiting on God's perfect timing.

If we look at 2 Peter 1:4, we can see that the ultimate point of this whole passage is to escape from the corruption that is in this world through sinful desire. There will be a lesson later on this part of the passage, so hold that thought for now, but keep it in mind that God wants us to be free from the corruption of this world....which comes from our own sinful desire. James says, "Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." James 1:5.

In self-control we see the ability to resist impulses and control our emotions and actions. When a temptation comes, God has always promised a way of escape. There is never a time that we should be mastered by anything. When that desire first comes into our minds, we need to stop it there before it can conceive and give birth to sin. Self-control is the momentary reaction to the desire or impulse, while Perseverance is the long term steadfastness to continue faithfully in godliness.

Perseverance is also endurance through suffering. Staying strong in the faith through difficult suffering will make us more like Christ. Suffering is a key point in 1 Peter and this adds to those ideas. If you have not read that take a minute and look at that passage. (1 Peter 3:8-22)

Perseverance is also patient waiting. Perseverance is not just about avoiding sin, it is also the ability to wait on God's best timing. As Christians, there is a lot of things we have to wait on in order to have God's best. God promises to always provide for our needs, but He does not promise to do so quickly. His timing is often about both giving us what we need and building our character through the waiting process. If waiting is hard for you, as it is for most of us, then this is an important aspect of Christian growth to focus on.

When we think about Bible characters who waited on God and those who did not, we can see the benefit of perseverance. Look at Sarah and Abraham. God's promise for a son felt like something that could not be waited for anymore, after decades of waiting, so Sarah came up with the plan of Hagar and the resulting issues with Ishmael happened. But also look at Hannah, she waited for years for a son, and faithfully prayed for God's blessing, until finally Samuel was born. There are so many lesson in the Bible on waiting, we know that God wants to give us the right gift at the right time, so learning to trust Him with that timing comes as a part of our Christian growth process. First we believe in God and then add to that faith goodness, to goodness we add knowledge, to knowledge we add self-control and to that self-control we can add this patient waiting on God's best for our lives. We believe in Him with faith, we surrender to Him in goodness, we grow in our love for Him with knowledge, in self-control we are set free from bondage, and in perseverance we are able to live on God's timeline, rather than our own.

I pray that as you consider what it means to add this perseverance to your life, God shows you the gift He has for you of being able to wait on him, endure through suffering and live faithfully in your daily life.

In our next lesson we will consider, adding godliness to perseverance. I pray God blesses you with understanding and hope you feel comfortable contacting me with any questions you have about these lessons.

God bless.