Per-se-ver-ance (pərsəˈvirəns): continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition; steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. Synonyms: persistence, tenacity, determination, staying power, indefatigability, steadfastness, purposefulness, diligence, dedication, commitment, doggedness, tirelessness, stamina, intransigence, obstinacy
I’ve heard it said that we overestimate what we can accomplish in a year and underestimate what we can do in five. That may be true. But the deeper truth is we’ll never accomplish anything we truly want without perseverance.
I have a strong tendency to clean that word up in my imagination, to make it all sparkly and romantic, like the prince who “perseveres” in holding to his integrity even when tempted to evil, or the queen who “perseveres” in governing her people with wisdom and patience even when they so often wander off the path of the good and true.
But real perseverance is a gritty, desperate, ugly-looking thing. It’s that wearily determined and resolved look that haunts the eyes of those who have been beaten down by life and by all accounts stopped winning at anything quite some time ago.
It may be that the warrior who just won his 10th battle has “persevered” to that end. But I think it’s the warrior who has just lost 10 battles in a row yet remains fully invested in the fight that truly knows perseverance at a depth and power the winning warrior can only guess at.
To fight for a noble dream despite repeated setbacks, to grapple with a future you ache to make real even after many false starts and failed attempts, to claw your way out of yet another dark defeat to stand again and face the day with determined hope and supernatural faith, to let the wounds and scars of your repeated losses serve to fuel your resolve to get up, learn from your failures, get back on the field and try again—all of these are better reflections of what real perseverance is about.
Perseverance is the refusal to yield, no matter how many times the forces rallied against you knock you down, take you out, beat you up, or leave you collapsed in a heap in the dirt of your own defeat. Perseverance says Regardless of this, I will rise. I will recover myself. I will examine how I was taken out. I will learn. I will adjust my strategy. I will re-engage the battle. And I will overcome.
“You have need of perseverance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.” — Hebrews 10:36
Perseverance is what faith looks like when the circumstances don't yet match the promise of God.
But faith knows...the story is not yet done.
Where in your life do you need to embrace perseverance?
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