Dear SCC & Friends,
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check…
Psalm 32:8-9a
Update #37
Last Sunday I asked if anyone had ever accused you of being stubborn? Ouch! Let’s take a different tack…Has anyone ever complimented you for being tenacious? One’s a dig and the other an affirmation. What’s the difference? “Stubborn” is being obstinate, rebellious and self-willed. “Tenacity” is about grit, fortitude, backbone, resolution and courage. Tenacity is a virtue and speaks of the courage and faith to press on and not give up, even when we grow weary. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired…He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. ~Isa. 40:28-29 Tenacity requires mature resolve and patience. I love the words of Joshua at the close of his life. He was Moses’s servant, crossed the Red Sea, a warrior who spent 40 arduous years in the desert and crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land. He saw it all! Joshua, as much as any man, lived with an unshakeable tenacity for God. Here’s his closing statement…a simple declaration of unwavering commitment regardless of culture, custom or circumstance. ...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. ~Josh. 24:15b.
I know we all can admit to times of being stubborn, hardheaded and camped on our own perspective. We can also admit to times we held our ground in conviction even though we could have taken the easy way out of fear or self-protection. It takes tenacity to hold our ground when the going gets rough, and when the future seems bleak. Godly tenacity is key to a successful marriage and family, for grace to initiate and grow friendships, to fight and overcome the onslaught of temptation that can draw us away from God. It’s the key to standing firm in the faith in the midst of upheaval and crisis. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~Rom. 8:38-39…fortitude…backbone…resolution…courage – We were made for such a time as this…Keep up the good work!
Tethered in His enduring grace,
Kevin