Persevering, Not Just Enduring, to the End
These are the four essentials. I’m sure there are other important considerations, but I believe these are fundamental. And so I would commend them to you.
Then finally I want to inject another word for our consideration in the subject of standing firm or enduring to the end. That’s the word perseverance. The word perseverance is very similar in meaning to the word endurance, and often we equate the two. But there can be a subtle difference. The word endure means to stand firm, and that is the theme of this book. We are to stand firm. We’re not to be carried about with every wind of doctrine theologically. We’re not to go off to this and that and the other. We’re to stand firm.
But we need to do more than stand. We need to move forward. When Paul says, “I have finished the race” (2 Tim. 4:7), obviously he was talking about motion. And perseverance means to keep going in spite of obstacles. So when Paul says, “I have finished the race,” basically he was saying, “I have persevered.” We do need to stand firm, and Scripture over and over again exhorts us to stand firm. But remember, that’s more than just standing still. If we get that idea, we’ve missed the point. We must move forward. We must persevere. We must be like Paul and say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
May you and I be like the apostle Paul.
Jerry Bridges (1929-2016) was a longtime staff member of the Navigators serving with their collegiate ministry. In addition to his international speaking ministry, he authored many books and three devotionals, including The Pursuit of Holiness, which has sold well over a million copies.
Content taken from Jerry Bridges’ chapter “Four Essentials for Finishing Well” in Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints, edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor, originally appearing on Crossway’s blog ©2016. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187.
