Sunday February 11, 2024

 

As we begin our journey through this NEW YEAR 2024 living in God's daily NEW MERCIES, I invite you to wander with me in pictures through one of Cartagena, Colombia's most fascinating neighborhoods: Getsemaní. Here, a fruit vendor in the streets of Getsemaní.

NEW YEAR, NEW MERCIES: DAY 12

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ~James 1:2-4

It is a wonderfully encouraging name for the God you serve, yet it’s possible to let it pass through your eyes and into your brain without stopping to celebrate its glory. In Romans 15:5, Paul calls your Lord “the God of endurance.” This title really gets at the center of where your hope is to be found. Let me state it plainly: your hope is not to be found in your willingness and ability to endure, but in God’s unshakable, enduring commitment to never turn from His work of grace. Your hope is that you have been welcomed into communion with One who will endure no matter what…

Your endurance will be spotty at best. There will be moments when you will forget who you are and live as a grace amnesiac. There will be times when you will get discouraged and for a while quit doing the good things God calls you to do. There will be moments, big and small, when you will willingly rebel.

You see, perfect endurance demands just that, perfection, and since none of us is there yet, we must look outside ourselves for hope. Your hope of enduring is not to be found in your character or strength, but in your Lord’s… It is the grace of endurance granted to you by the God of endurance that provides you with everything you need to continue to be what He calls you to be and do what He calls you to do from this moment on and until the moment when you cross over to the other side. 

Thank You God, that You are the God of endurance - and that it is not my willingness and ability to persevere, but Your perfect and faithful endurance that give me the grace to persevere.

+ REFLECTIONS