Many people start the Christian race. The real question is who finishes it. It is one thing to begin with enthusiasm and another to keep going when the road is long, the cost is high, and the feelings have faded. The Bible everywhere calls for perseverance, the steady holding on and pressing forward that brings a believer all the way to the end. Let us see what it says.
Endure to the End
Jesus made endurance the mark of the saved. "he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Matthew 24:13). He did not say the one who begins well, or the one who has a great experience at the start, but the one who endures to the end. The Christian life is not a single decision made once and then forgotten. It is a course to be run faithfully until the finish, through whatever comes.
The Race Must Be Finished
Paul pictured the life of faith as a race that demands stamina. "let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1). At the end of his own life he could write, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). He did not merely enter the race; he finished it. A race is not won at the starting line or the halfway mark, but at the finish, and the same is true of our walk with God.
The Danger of Drawing Back
Scripture is honest about the danger of quitting. God says, "the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him" (Hebrews 10:38). Jesus warned, "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). The plowman who keeps glancing behind him cannot plow a straight furrow. To start with God and then turn back is to forfeit everything, so Paul urged, "let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Galatians 6:9).
Endure Through Trials
Perseverance is tested most in trials, which is exactly what it is for. "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him" (James 1:12). We are pointed to "the patience of Job" (James 5:11), who lost nearly everything and still held on to God. Trials are not a sign that God has abandoned us. They are the very ground on which endurance is proven and the crown is won.
Hold Fast, and Find Strength in God
We are told to take hold and not let go. "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised" (Hebrews 10:23), and to the church at Philadelphia, "hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown" (Revelation 3:11). And the strength to endure is not our own. "they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31). We do not grit our way through in our own power. We lean on the God who renews the strength of those who wait on Him.
The Crown at the Finish
The Bible holds out a reward for those who endure, to keep our eyes up when the road is hard. Paul, near death, wrote, "there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day" (2 Timothy 4:8). So he charged the church, "be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58). Whatever you do, do not quit. The prize is not for those who start, but for those who finish, and the God who called you will give the strength to get there.