Practice Makes Perfect - Perseverance

Practice Makes Perfect - Perseverance

Have you ever given up? Stopped trying? Thrown up your hands in despair? Sometimes we just get tired of trying. Today, Peter tells us why it is important to hang in there.

2 Peter 1:6

“...and in your self-control, perseverance...”

Peter has told us that knowledge without self-control is a harmful thing. But, we don’t like self-control. We resist it because we are independent and rebellious.

Peter is telling us that all of our attempts at self-control require this biblical concept: perseverance. You might notice the presence of the word “severe” in perseverance. What does that tell you about it?

It means that perseverance is not about keeping after something when it is easy. Perseverance is about holding the course when the consequences are severe and maintaining the path is really difficult. It is there that we experience life-altering change. Here’s what James says about perseverance:

James 1:2-4

“Consider it all joy...when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Perseverance produces character. When you persevere in your self-control you become the man or woman that God desires you to be. It is how we become godly and that is how we find meaning in our lives.

Luke 21:19

“By your endurance you will gain your lives.”