We are called to have faith in Jesus – to believe in Him, His death, burial, and resurrection, His power, His Strength, and His Presence. But the life of Faith is not always easy, in fact, it is often difficult and that’s why we need the strength and presence of Christ.
Faith is frequently defined by referring to Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
However, there is another aspect of faith that we must consider, that we must “hang in there.” Faith is not a one-time experience – it is a life-long journey. We seek to follow God through the ups and downs of life – our trials and struggles. This means that faith requires us to PERSIST.
First, it is essential that we believe in Christ. There is a great story in Mark 6 that tells of the time when Jesus visited his hometown. Jesus had been teaching and performing miracles and his fame was spreading. So when he came back to Nazareth, verse 2 says that “they were amazed.” They wondered how he received all this wisdom and how could he do these great things.
In fact they were so puzzled verse 3 tells us that “they were offended.” All they could see was the person who had grown up in their village. So they were saying: “If anyone should know who you are, we should! You are nothing special. You are just one of us.”
They could not believe that this was the Christ, the Son of God. So then, in vs 4-5, They missed out on the miracles he would have done because of their unbelief. Unbelief robs us of God’s blessings and His power.
Jesus serves as our example–he did not give up and stop. He persisted in proclaiming God’s message. He was rejected and insulted, but he persisted in heading to the cross. He left his hometown of Nazareth and to our knowledge never returned home. If we follow Jesus, our faith will have to persist through struggles as well.
Paul gives us that message–don’t give up. “Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up” (Galatians 6:9). Also, Peter urges us to persist: “Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing ...
