“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” James 1:4

Someone once said that the bulldog’s nose is slanted upward so that it can breathe while it holds on. That’s a fascinating observation. A reminder that dogged persistence overcomes adversity and that the ability to endure brings success.

Which is the point made in James 1:4; “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

So hold on. Don’t retreat from the challenges or tests that God has allowed to come your way. Be determined, endure hardship, be tenacious, and don’t quit. For a faith that fizzles before the finish is no faith at all.

Thomas Edison knew about gritty perseverance. In December 1914 his manufacturing facilities in West Orange, New Jersey, were heavily damaged by fire. Edison lost almost $1 million worth of equipment and the records of much of his work. The next morning, walking through the charred embers of his hopes and dreams, the sixty-seven-year-old inventor said, “There is value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Now we can start anew.”

That’s the way to do it. If life hands you a lemon, make lemonade. Much is accomplished when we refuse to waver. So pay as little attention to discouragement as possible. Hold on and keep holding on. For it’s “God’s usual course not to give His children the taste of His delights till they begin to sweat in seeking after them” Richard Baxter.

An anonymous poet wrote:

“When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And when you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit –

Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As everyone of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about

When you might have won had you stuck it out.

Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow –

You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than

It seems to a faint and faltering man;

Often the struggler has given up

When he might have captured the victor’s cup

And he learned too late, when the night’s slipped down

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out –

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems afar;

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –

It’s when things seems worst that you mustn’t quit.”