Perseverance Reflects Whose We Are

Perseverance Reflects Whose We Are

We are not like those who turn their backs on God and seal their fate. We have faith that assures our salvation. –Hebrews 10:39

My parents love to put me next to my mother and say something like, “Can you tell whose daughter she is? Doesn’t she look like her mother?” And they are right. I look more and more like her all the time. Some days I look in the mirror and I realize, I’m becoming my mother! If you look at me and then you look at my mother, you know instantly whose child I am. And while we’re on the topic, you might as well know what I inherited from my father. My maiden name is Jinks. Jinkses are often loud and opinionated. But Jinkses are also generous and look for ways to help people in practical ways in times of need. Jinkses love the church and love God’s people. Jinkses live life to the fullest. So I suppose when I walk into a room, looking every bit like my mother, my voice carrying above the crowd to offer my opinion, or when I offer you a bed to sleep in or come to see you when you are in the hospital, it is a reflection of whose I am.

In this verse, the writer to the Hebrews was appealing to the “family traits” of the people of faith. Living by faith is who we are; it is what we do. Our perseverance is a reflection of whose we are. We are not people who shrink back in the face of persecution. We are people who believe and keep on believing. We are people who live by faith. It is just who we are.

When you choose to live by faith and keep on believing, we can see the family resemblance. We recognize whose you are. We also see what you believe. And it is the power of what you believe that will enable you to persevere when the going gets tough in your life. What you know to be true—because it is what God has said—will become the foundation for the decisions you make and the actions you take. Your perseverance will reflect what you believe—which is what God has said is trustworthy and true—that his promise to you of salvation is reliable.

When people look at you, is it obvious whose you are and what you believe? As you persevere through difficulty in your life, you will “grow up” looking and sounding and acting more and more like your Father every day.

My Father, how I want to carry the family resemblance by persevering through faith in the suffering I am facing. I place my confidence in your salvation and refuse to turn my back on you as I face the future.

DIGGING DEEPER