Enduring Faith

Hebrews 10:36 NASB
“ For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”

Enduring faith is a theme that we find a lot of examples of, throughout the Bible. It’s one of those “where the rubber hits the road” kinds of things that separates the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats, and the saved from the unsaved. 

Numerous times I have written on different things that I call “off ramps” which can or may end up moving some of us away from a closer walk with God, rather than drawing us nearer. And it’s not that some of these “off ramps” don’t necessarily have value in making judgements or exercising discernment about what may hinder us and what helps us grow, because some of them do. On the other side of the coin however, there are numerous areas or “off ramps”  that produce little, if any, growth in faith, but rather detract from the realities spoken of, in God’s Holy Word, like gaining endurance and following through with the known will of God, as indicated within the Holy Scriptures.

As an example there is the study of textual criticism of the Holy Scriptures. Some people devote their whole lives to this worthy pursuit and there is nothing wrong with doing that. This could include studying Hebrew and ancient Greek so that the numerous copies of Scripture that we still have with us, can be studied and accurately translated into our common language with a very high degree of reliability and these are good things and commendable things with which to focus our energies and learning on. But for the “common” man or woman, a layperson per se, the vast majority of us haven’t been called in that direction. 

For those of us who are in that “common” category, knowing the history of how we got our current Scriptures, how translations came about and how the different types of renderings are put together is suffice, so that we know we have a translation that is deemed reliable by the common consensus of competent authorities and is as authentic as it can be. And some of us even have personal preferences or a combination of translations that we use in our personal reading and studying, and in most circumstances, there is nothing wrong in doing that either.

But that is just one area. There are many areas, and as we get into God’s Holy Word, we may be drawn to look further into creationism, Church history, or God’s sovereignty and man’s free will, just to name a very few. And there is no doubt that it is highly desirable to have a least a good working knowledge of these particular subjects. We do need to know why we believe what we believe and all of these subjects are worthy of our investigation. 

But, and here is the kicker, in my mind and advice for what it is worth, through years of personal study, plus some successes and many failures, I find that there is a distinct difference between knowing about various subjects and knowing God in a really personal, one on one, kind of way. And I have learned that while it is important to gain a working knowledge on a host of Biblically related subjects, that gained knowledge is secondary, to establishing and maintaining a relationship with God. One area focuses on facts pertaining to realities, while the other focuses on the actual realities. 

In my studies of Holy Scripture, I discovered that Jesus Himself told us to learn from Him (Matthew 11:29). That means that He serves as an example, actually the ultimate example, and there is much that we can learn from learning about Jesus. But a strange thing happens when we do this. We begin to see patterns, dependencies, expressions of God’s will, that we may not have seen before. And while doing this, there are aspects of Jesus, the Son of God, that not only increasingly draws us to Him, but also reveals to us of Him, as Lord and God.

Jesus perfectly followed the will of God the Father, in all that He said and in all that He did. Constantly, without fail. And if ever there was anyone who endured, it would be Jesus. Not only did He endure but He received the promise that His Father had given Him, regarding His resurrection (John 10:18 refers). And the promise that God the Father gave to His Son, is the promise that the Son of God gives to us (John 14:19 refers). 

When is comes to us enduring, it won’t be our knowledge about creationism, or Church history, or God’s sovereignty and man’s free will that will see us through, it will be the one on one relationship we have with Jesus, as our Lord and as our Saviour.

There is nothing wrong in learning and studying why we believe, what we believe and these things are necessary, but they are secondary to knowing Jesus. Knowing Jesus is where the rubber hits the road. Keep that as your priority. 

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!