Get To Work!

To persevere sounds like work to me! When I retired from professional work, I truly meant it - and how I've loved putting behind alarm-clock-hard-working days. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, Satan didn't retire when I did and neither did life's struggles. Peter wrote, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you." (1 Peter 4:12). In plain words: Believer, expect trouble! But [now] isn't that why we work so diligently - to avoid suffering, divert difficulty, substitute ease for hardship? Jesus said, "Fear none of those thing which thou shalt suffer ... be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." (Revelation 2:10). My friend said it this way: "bear your cross as you wait for the crown."  The real riches of spiritual life come only to those who willingly lay aside personal ease for greater causes: "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (Galatians 5:24). Yes, perseverance certainly is hard work! Nonetheless, it is the call, the command of God upon each of His own. Let's get to work!