A Call to Perseverance

By Pastor Chad

Our walk with the Lord is fueled by, sustained by, and perpetually infused by the grace of God. Without His grace, we would neither be able to come to Him nor continue in the call He has placed upon our lives. This is not to overlook, however, the pressing passages that impose a standard upon those who follow Christ. Again, the same grace that saves us is the same grace that sustains us, but we are commanded to “mature” in our faith (Hebrews 6:1). Thus, there is an element of responsibility on our shoulders. 

In Hebrews 6:1, the pastor writes, “And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end…” The writer is pleading with the Hebrew church to fervently demonstrate the hope and inheritance they received in Christ Jesus. This demonstration is a call to display the work of Christ and His example in the church’s daily life. 

How do we demonstrate a “full assurance of hope”? How do we demonstrate the hope we have in Christ? For one, as the author of Hebrews indicates, we demonstrate our hope in the gospel by living differently than those without Jesus. True Christian hope not only gives comfort, but it impacts the way we live. There are times when life seems confusing. When the world seems to be in a talespin of out-of-control chaos, we can have confidence everything is ultimately under God’s sovereign hand. As Christians we have a hope that baffles the lost. In fact, an authentic Christian hope probably seems somewhat bizarre to a non-Christian. To the lost, it is hard to understand how we can have hope that one day all the wrongs will be made right. Our hope in the return of our Lord and His renewal of all things probably sounds absurd to those not in Christ. Yet, such truths are not only an anchor for our faith, they are realities that guide our lives. 

Indeed, we have been given a great inheritance. Thus the author of Hebrews says, “…so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (v. 12). Christians are called to demonstrate the inheritance we have received in Jesus Christ by imitating those who have lived a faithful life in Christ–because the faithful are simply following the example of Christ. 

I am not and have never been an artist. I cannot paint, draw, or even write legibly. But if I place a thin piece of paper over a picture, I can trace the art quite nicely. In the same way, we are not left to guess what a life of hope looks like. We do not have to blaze our own trail. We were given a template to follow. We did not earn this rich inheritance. It has been given to us to use for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom. In following His example, we rightly use what has been gifted to us.