This month of celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is an appropriate time to think about one of the most important aspects of discipleship — perseverance.
We are all rightly amazed at the quality and sheer consistency of her reign and should be thankful to God for his answers to many prayers in providing us with such a devoted and dependable sovereign. The secret is not, of course, in the outward ceremonies and trappings of monarchy, in the image portrayed or the privileges enjoyed, but in the inner resolve to do her duty, by serving God and her peoples. Dedicating her life to this vision more than 60 years ago, the Queen’s life has demonstrated the fulfilment of that resolve, year by year, day by day.
Duty
Duty is not a very popular concept these days. It smacks of dry determination, thoughtless and heedless of whatever is happening, gritting your teeth and keeping on keeping on, whatever it takes. But while it may not seem attractive to our self-indulgent, pleasure-seeking culture, it is actually the stuff of progress and consistency. Someone has described the Christian life as ‘a long obedience in the same direction’ and duty is a reflection of the qualities of commitment and perseverance. The issue is not whether we start enthusiastically, with high expectations of what God might do with us, or through us. Many Christians begin the life of discipleship well. The question is whether we will finish well. That requires a sense of dutiful commitment to keep following Christ, which over the years becomes the virtue of perseverance.
Dangers
The Bible is full of warnings about the danger of drifting, diluting our commitment to Christ and his kingdom, compromising with sin, being too much in love with this world. ‘We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first’ (Hebrews 3.14). But the surrounding context is full of instruction about how we might ignore, or neglect, this great salvation (2.3). The great danger is not that we will not hear God’s voice, but that when we hear it, we shall harden our hearts. Sin’s deceitfulness is the destroyer of Christian perseverance, the writer tells us. We don’t really believe that living by God’s word is the best, indeed the only way to our deepest satisfaction and fulfilment, and so we start to compromise on his demands. Unbelief leads to sin, to a heart that hardens as it ‘turns away from the living God’ (Hebrews 3.12).
Two remedies are highlighted in Hebrews. The first is the encouragement of other Christians on a daily basis to keep true to our confession and to keep following Jesus wholeheartedly. Fellowship is a vital part of Christian living.
The other is to take care how we hear and respond to God’s word, ‘to combine it with faith’ (Hebrews 4.2). Not to allow it to slip away from us, like water off a duck’s back, but to receive and actively apply what is taught to our own situations. Personal Bible study and biblical preaching are equally vital ingredients for long-term discipleship.
Doctrine
There is a doctrine called the perseverance of the saints, which is the assurance that God will bring every one of his people safely into his eternal kingdom. As Jude verse 24 says: ‘He is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy’. But we have a responsibility, as verse 21 has pointed out. ‘Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life’. The corollary of the perseverance of the saints is that real saints will persevere. Her Majesty’s devotion to her earthly calling provides us with a real challenge. Are we as devoted to our heavenly king and to his call on our lives as we were when we first started out?
Duty is fed by our vision of the eternal kingdom, and by our love for the sovereign, who laid down his life for us. It is not grim resolution, but glad obedience which will make us persevering disciples.
David Jackman,
past President of the Proclamation Trust
