James 1:3b- 4, "The testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
It has been many years since I have given my house a cosmetic uplift. Also, I have lived in this same house for 46 years, and I resided with a husband who never threw anything away. I must admit I have also tended to squirrel away many objects that "I might need later." Now I am in the "clean it out, throw it away" mode, along with painting some rooms and changing some floors. The contents of several closets are strewn around various rooms. How can cleaning out make so much mess? Everyday I am tempted just to throw stuff back into closets so at least the house would look neat. I am so tempted to quit in the middle of all I need to do!
Then I am reminded of Winston Churchill's address to a college graduating class. The sum total of his speech was, "Never give up. Never give up. Never give up." I recently read this statement: "The only way to complete failure is to quit." And I've always been inspired by the saying, "It's always too soon to quit."
God has some favorite attributes that He loves to see in our lives, attributes like faith, obedience, and love. Another attribute to which He is greatly partial is perseverance, endurance, hanging in there, never giving up. So, in the closing words of Heb. 12:1, "Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
Father, thank You that You give us the strength and encouragement to persevere, to endure, to remain faith to You in all circumstances. May we continue to run the race You have marked out for each of us. Amen.
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