Perseverance Through Trials: A Review of James 1, Hebrews 12, and Hupomone

Digging Deeper

Test Perseverance

Perseverance is essential to authentic Christian life.  Defined as a steadfast endurance in the face of trials, opposition and difficulty, it is a pathway, a power and a barometer of genuine faith in Christ.  At its core, Christian perseverance reflects your understanding that faith is a lifelong journey or pilgrimage with its rewards or punishments extending into eternity.

Viewed as a barometer, perseverance is described as a litmus test of genuine faith.  1John 2:19 addresses those who departed from the church: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”  This contrast between true believers and false appears again in Hebrews 10:39: “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

This doesn’t mean that perseverance earns salvation, but that true salvation produces perseverance.  Christ Himself both cautioned and promised in Matthew 24:13: “because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”   Those who endure demonstrate that they truly possessed saving faith; those who abandon the faith prove they never had it.  Yet the promise is confirmed again in Hebrews 3:14: “For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed you hold our original confidence firm to the end.”  Fulfilling the conditional “if” is your testimony you truly share in Christ.

Do not mistake this perseverance as a demonstration of your human will power.  It is the Holy Spirit’s work to empower you to endure to the end.  Philippians 1:6 assures you: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. “  Your ability to persevere is guarded by God’s power, not your ability to hang on.  1 Peter 1:3-5 portrays you as “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  God’s faithfulness is the foundation of your perseverance.  1 Corinthians 1:8-9 continues to assure believers that Christ “will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Though God keeps and secures your perseverance, you must be actively nurture it.  “Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” 2 Peter 1: 5-7   Your intentional effort at steadfastness (perseverance) has an opportunity to be grown in the midst of trials and suffering.  In fact, God uses your troubles as a means to train you in perseverance.  1 Peter 1:6-7 explains: “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 provides added perspective to your perseverance in suffering: “Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 

Yet God limit trials to what you can bear while providing escape and strength to persevere.  1 Corinthians 10:13 assures you “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”   In times such as these you need only remember God’s promise to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: ” But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  Whenever you feel unable to persevere, know God’s grace is sufficient and operates most powerfully in our humility and weakness.

Perseverance is part of God’s plan to preserve you to the end. James 1:2:4 instructs you to “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  James goes on in verse 12 of that chapter to reveal God’s promise: “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”  Faithful perseverance is the pathway to eternal reward.   Revelation 2:10 promises: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”  This Spirit-driven perseverance overcomes earthly troubles and conquers in spiritual warfare.  Revelation 21:7 declares: “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”  These truths declare God’s faithfulness to hold and keep you, working though your perseverance to fulfill His eternal purpose for your life.