The greatest tragedy in Christian living is to have a good beginning but fail to capitalize on it. People get distracted, get sidetracked and lose sight of the reward that God has kept for them. Thus they backslide and fail to fulfill the purpose for which God had called them. What is the cause of such a failure? It can be nothing but lack of perseverance.
Perseverance is that quality which enables you to keep on moving towards your goal in spite of every obstacle, difficulty, doubt, discouragement and opposition. A person who perseveres does not stop till he reaches his goal.
Look at the life of Jesus Christ. The Bible asks you to have the perseverance of Christ: ``May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and [Christ's perseverance] (2 Thessalonians 3:5 NIV).
Why did Jesus need to have perseverance? The answers can make you think? He came to this world which was made through Him but the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own people but they did not receive Him but instead rejected Him (Ref, John 1:10,11). He was threatened to be killed from His birth onwards (Ref. Matthew 2:16, 12:14, 26:4). His own brothers did not believe in Him (Ref. John 7:5). Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious leaders of His day were always trying to trap Him with matters of the Law or even payment of taxes. His disciples were slow of heart to believe what He said. Added to that, Jesus knew that one day one of them would betray Him and another one would deny knowing Him. As you think of the disciples as they really were, a bunch of men who were selfish, not having much education, having rough character; you would really appreciate the perseverance of Jesus in building such a team.
