To insist, to persist and to never give up
“This saying is sure: If we have died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful—for He cannot deny Himself.”
(2 Timothy 2:11–13)
Many times we do not know how to persevere, which paths to choose in order to persevere with our Lord Jesus Christ, which decisions to make, how to think, how to mature in God, how to grow in His presence in stature, wisdom, and grace. If you are like this, this blog is highly recommended for you!
Many times we deny the Lord; many times we are unfaithful, in big things and in small ones. But how good it is that you are here, so that together we can go deeper into this theme that is already very explicit tonight. How good it is that we started with this passage.
What does it mean to insist, to persist, and to never give up (in case you still haven’t figured it out)? How do we do this in practice? What must we do for this to become real in our lives? Maybe you already know and imagine the answers and might not even feel like reading anymore, but know that tonight we will make some content recommendations that are not even religious and that will help us take ownership of what this post is about.
In this regard, we have already quoted this in previous posts, but it is always good to repeat (not as a poem, but literally quote again, if you understand what I mean):
“Examine everything carefully; hold fast to what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
A Christian is not someone alienated, narrow-minded, or ignorant who does not know what is happening around them, who does not understand the dangers of shipwrecking in faith, or the bad and good things before them. Rather, a Christian is someone who is aware of everything but retains what is permitted (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:12), what is profitable, and what adds value (in other posts we will explore this theme of choices more deeply).
It may be that after one, two, five, ten years or more walking with our Lord, we see ourselves like the image above: like a child. A child who seems to have never left the same place because the road ahead seems so long, and looking back, it seems like there has not been much progress.
We have two pieces of news: one to clarify—and it is bad; the other to enlighten our minds—and it is good. Which one do you want first?
Let’s go with the clarifying one: God wants us to be eternal children who live an ETERNAL CHILDHOOD (cf. Luke 18:16), not childishness—because that is what the devil wants. That is why there are so many intoxicants in society today, and everything works together to prevent us from growing as people of God. There is a huge difference between childhood and childishness.
The second one is to clear our vision and illuminate how we see and understand this: the wonderful Saint Augustine said that it is better to crawl along the PATH (of God, who is Jesus) than to run outside of it. So even if you see yourself as that child on God’s path, the important thing is that you insist, persist, and never give up.
The truth is that many times we do not believe in what we
give up on. Why do we give up? One of the explanations is that we stop
believing that we are capable of accomplishing something, whatever it may be.
We lose hope, charity, faith. We shipwreck, as Saint Paul says, because we
forget everything the Lord promised us, everything that was said and proclaimed
about us:
“This is the instruction I entrust to you, Timothy, my
child, in accordance with the prophecies once made about you: supported by
them, fight the good fight, with faith and a good conscience. Some, by
rejecting these, have made a shipwreck of their faith.”
(1 Timothy 1:18–19)
Let us analyse, with the Word of God in our hands, these
precious pieces of advice that Saint Paul gave to Timothy and that can help us
so much. Two great directions are revealed here, and each one alone would
become a gigantic post if we stopped to reflect deeply on them: TO FIGHT THE
GOOD FIGHT, WITH FAITH AND A GOOD CONSCIENCE.
At this moment, we can quote Saint “...” who said that
victory belongs to the one who fights, and defeat belongs to the one who gives
up fighting. Therefore, our victory—our certainty of victory—lies in not
stopping the fight. Even if we do not win a battle, the war is guaranteed to
those who do not stop fighting.
AND FOR THOSE WHO ARE WITH GOD AND WHO BELONG TO GOD,
VICTORY IS MUCH EASIER, BECAUSE IT DOES NOT EVEN DEPEND ON US, BUT ON THAT
EXTRAORDINARY, MAGNIFICENT, SUPERNATURAL STRENGTH THAT COMES DIRECTLY FROM THE
HEART OF GOD TO OUR HEART. THE GLORIOUS JUDAS MACCABAEUS TEACHES US THIS
SECRET:
“It is easy,” Judas answered, “for many to be defeated by a
few. For the God of heaven, there is no difference between saving by many or by
few, because victory in battle does not depend on numbers, but on the strength
that comes down from heaven.” (1 Maccabees 3:18–19)
Have you ever experienced this reality—of winning and
triumphing over a war waged against you to make you give up, even when you had
no strength, no abilities, no understanding, no apparent gifts, no conditions,
no hope, no nothing? No!? Then you need to experience being a person of God, to
entrust your entire life to Him! Only then will you be able to see how this is
a reality in the life of those who belong to Christ. THIS IS A CERTAINTY OF
FAITH!
We need to convince ourselves that as long as we are in this
world, living here on this earth corrupted by the prince of darkness of this
aeon-like society, we are in a fight—and this fight will only end when we reach
heaven:
“Man’s life on earth is a struggle.” (Job 7:1)
And in this struggle, we must learn to fight according to
the rules:
“An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to
the rules.” (2 Timothy 2:5)
We could speak of many rules, such as the Ten
Commandments—which Jesus summarized into two, and which Saint Paul summarized
into one: Love—but we want to speak about the great rule: to insist, to
persist, and never, ever, not even think about giving up.
But we have already said this three times, and still we may
not know: what does it mean to insist? what does it mean to persist? what does
it mean to give up? Let’s see what the dictionary can add for us:
TO INSIST: To ask repeatedly for someone to do
something, even if the request has already been refused; to demonstrate
perseverance, to continue, not to yield or abandon; to persevere.
This spectacular definition immediately takes us to the
words of the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, which connects with this
secret of Saint Paul that we are exploring—fighting the good fight. It is
necessary to fix our eyes and never take them off Jesus, no matter what happens
to us:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us, and
persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed
on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the sake of the joy that
lay before him, he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his
seat at the right of the throne of God. Consider how he endured such opposition
from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your
struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.
You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons: ‘My son, do
not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for
whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.’
Endure your trials as ‘discipline’; God treats you as sons. For what ‘son’ is
there whom his father does not discipline? If you are without discipline, in
which all have shared, you are not sons but illegitimate children. Besides
this, we have had our earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them.
Should we not then submit all the more to the Father of spirits and live? They
disciplined us for a short time according to their own judgment, but he does so
for our benefit, in order that we may share his holiness.”
(Hebrews 12:1–10)
In fact, Saint Catherine of Siena reminds us of this: “All
evil comes from not keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.” With our eyes fixed
on Him, even if we forget the reasons that once moved us, this fixed
gaze—without turning to the right, to the left, or anywhere else—makes us
insist with perseverance (which is almost a pleonasm) on the goal we desire.
Therefore, TO PERSIST is a synonym of to insist, with
a very similar meaning: to express constancy, in which there is insistence; to
continue or proceed; to remain in a certain way; to preserve oneself. That is
exactly it! This word once again leads us to Sacred Scripture, in a beautiful
text by Saint Paul to the community of Rome:
“Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the holy ones; exercise hospitality. Bless those who
persecute you—bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep
with those who weep. Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty
but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not
repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all.
If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Beloved, do not look
for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is
mine, I will repay, says the Lord’ (Dt 32:35). Rather, ‘if your enemy is
hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so
doing you will heap burning coals upon his head’ (Pr 25:21). Do not be
conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.” (Romans 12:12–21)
And TO GIVE UP is exactly the opposite of insisting
and persisting: to abstain, to renounce voluntarily, not to continue or not to
proceed with the realization of something specific; to renounce an already
established relationship with someone; to retract a statement, change one’s
opinion, to take back what one said. WE CANNOT GIVE UP!
Going back to the Letter to the Hebrews, we find a specific
passage for this situation:
“Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession of hope, for He
who made the promise is trustworthy. We must consider how to rouse one another
to love and good works. We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the
custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the
day drawing near. For if we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the
truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins but a fearful prospect of
judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries. Anyone
who rejects the law of Moses is put to death without pity on the testimony of
two or three witnesses. Do you not think that a much worse punishment is due to
one who has contempt for the Son of God, who has profaned the blood of the
covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
For we know the one who said: ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ and again:
‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God. Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened,
you endured a great struggle with suffering. At times you were publicly exposed
to abuse and affliction; at other times you associated yourselves with those so
treated. You even joined in the sufferings of the imprisoned and joyfully
accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you had a better and
lasting possession. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have
a great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what
He has promised. ‘For, after just a brief moment, he who is to come shall come;
he shall not delay. But my just one shall live by faith, and if he draws back,
I take no pleasure in him’ (Hab 2:3–4). We are not among those who draw back
and perish, but among those who have faith and will possess life.”
(Hebrews 10:23–39)
The good fight that Saint Paul mentions is precisely this
effort that consists in learning from our own mistakes and from the mistakes of
others, and allowing ourselves to be corrected by the Lord. Faithfulness comes
from the constancy of faith, which, with our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, does
not allow us to be overcome by discouragement—because we have already gone
through so much and have not given up. So why give up now? Why swim so much and
accept dying at the shore? No! PERSEVERANCE IS NECESSARY TO DO THE WILL OF
GOD!
A good conscience is the clarity of a righteous life before
God and before people: a peaceful conscience, a pure conscience, one fixed on
its goals, plans, desires, and purpose. We must be positive, believe, and trust
that we will be victorious. Pessimism is a filthy mark that the devil has
placed in the minds of those who have already given up—and today they spread
seeds of surrender, with the ruined conscience of defeat. Downcast people are
looking toward where they are going. That is why we must keep our heads held
high and look toward heaven!
A PERSON WHO DOES NOT HAVE THESE THREE CHARACTERISTICS IN
THEIR LIFE—INSISTING, PERSISTING, AND NOT GIVING UP—SOONER OR LATER WILL STOP
WALKING WITH GOD, WILL CHANGE DIRECTION, WILL CHANGE OPINION, WILL TURN BACK,
WILL RETRACT, WILL SHIPWRECK IN FAITH, LOSE COURAGE, AND BREAK THEIR
RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNION WITH GOD.
But in this post, we do not want to focus only on life with
God, on walking hand in hand with Jesus Christ, guided by the mighty wind of
the Holy Spirit—which is the most important thing and the reason this blog
exists—but we also want to expand this theme to all areas of life, all areas
and situations in which we can fall into the misfortune of giving up.
How many people give up on their ideals?! They dreamed of a
better world, of accomplishing great things, of a full life, of having a
different attitude, of being and making a difference in the world—not just
being another brick in the wall.
How many give up on their dreams? We cannot do that! God
made us dreamers, and we must dream. We must believe that what is inside us can
and will happen! In other posts, we will explore this theme of dreaming more
deeply, but for now we want to leave two phrases to motivate us (one of which
has already been quoted on this blog).
The wonderful Paula Azevedo Palhete said: “The realization of a dream depends on dedication. Those who want to do
something find a WAY. Those who want to do nothing find an EXCUSE!”
How much have you and I dedicated ourselves to seeing our dreams come true?
Have we been finding more ways or more excuses? We must think about this,
review what we are doing, and start doing what needs to be done with the
spontaneous dedication of someone who knows what they want.
Another phrase is from the saint and Doctor of the Church,
patroness of missions in the Catholic Church, Thérèse of the Child Jesus:
“God does not place dreams in our hearts that He is not capable of
fulfilling.”
What can we say in the face of this? Especially with David’s
words in Psalm 36 (which we must read with our feet on the ground and our
hearts in heaven):
“Take delight in the Lord, and He will grant you your
heart’s desires.” (Psalm 36:4)
What is the desire of your heart? What is your dream? What
is your greatest longing? Ask the Lord, and sooner or later He will
answer—provided that you insist, persist, and never give up.
How many people give up on their studies, on college, on
their family, on their own conversion, on changing their behaviour, on life
with God, on projects that were not completed, on plans that did not succeed,
on businesses that went bankrupt, on the inner desires that come from the
soul—because they were disappointed!? We need to take on this posture in our
lives! We need to have trust and perseverance.
“The world opens up and lets pass those who know where they
are going,” as the dearly missed Father Léo, SCJ, used to remind us. Whoever
has a “why” can face any “how.” No one gives up because they are tired, but
because they do not know where they are going.
But here we also explore an area where many people can be
mentioned—those who have no goal in life at all. They have no dreams, no desire
to grow, to do something, to be someone in life, to be someone in heaven. They
are content with being just one more in the crowd, among the masses. How sad!
It must be said that many people also need to find meaning in life.
They have no reason to fight, and that is why they are
always leaning against walls, crying over their own misery, complaining about
God and the world, saying they are unhappy, that nothing will ever work out for
them, that they were born to be failures…
THIS DISCOURSE INSPIRED BY SATAN—WHO IS THE ONLY ONE WHO
IS ALREADY DEFEATED—CANNOT COME OUT OF OUR LIPS, CANNOT LIVE IN OUR HEARTS (AND
IF IT IS THERE, IT MUST BE CAST OUT), CANNOT BE PART OF OUR THOUGHTS, AND
CANNOT GUIDE OUR LIFE.
Whoever belongs to God is already victorious. Whoever has
faith conquers the entire world, because they have the courage of the Lord who
conquered the world and gives us courage to conquer with Him.
“In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage: I
have conquered the world.” (John 16:33)
And Saint John tells us who the victor is:
“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.
And His commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is born of God conquers
the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. Who indeed is
the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of
God?” (1 John 5:3–5)
You who are a Christian—it may be that you are in a
desperate situation, on a hopeless road, unable to see any light at the end of
the tunnel, finding no meaning in your walk, constantly living in a dark valley
of death—but the only solution is to move forward. Going backward does not
help. Standing still does not help. We must always move forward, even if
falling and getting back up. The secret is to never give up!
Once there was a competition in which all participants were
ready, in their places, and were going to run a 10 km race. The person who
organized this competition was a billionaire. The prizes were extraordinary,
and that is why there were thousands of people. But what no one knew was that
this billionaire was a person totally of God, who during a moment of prayer had
felt a strong inspiration from the Lord to organize this competition.
So the race began. As always, there were those who were well
prepared, those who were somewhat prepared, and those who were not prepared at
all. Of course, the ones in better condition started ahead and had a certain
advantage over the others.
As time went by, many started to give up, to lose heart, and
little by little they would fall to the ground, leave the competition, exit the
area, and turn back, discouraged. Even some of those who were well prepared
began to stop, taking their eyes off the prizes that awaited them and looking
at those who were better, thinking that they would not gain much by finishing
in nineteenth place or worse.
After some hours, the winners were there: the one who
arrived in first place, proud; the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth,
the tenth, the twentieth, the hundredth, and so on. But the organizers of the
event kept waiting. A little more time passed, and then those in the
two-hundredth and three-hundredth places arrived. And with the authorization of
that billionaire, they continued waiting.
More and more time passed. Night had already fallen, knowing
that the race had begun in the morning, and it still had not ended—and one more
person arrived. He was the last one, because all the others had left the
competition. This last one arrived exhausted, crushed by fatigue—but he had
arrived. This made the organizer of the event very happy.
After so much waiting, the celebration of the best-ranked
participants began. But something else caught everyone’s attention. The one who
finished in first place received R$10,000.00. And the second did too. As well
as the third, the two-hundredth, and even the last place. The great surprise of
the event: the same prize for everyone!
Faced with the complaints that arose and the noise of
murmuring voices, that rich man of God took the microphone to address them. He
said: “Thank you very much for the participation of everyone. I thank you,
recognize you, and admire the persistence of each one of you. I see that you
are complaining because everyone received the same prize. I did not want to
reveal this before, but this is what God placed in my heart—to leave a lesson
for the rest of the life of each and every one of you.”
He continued: “In a moment of prayer, the Lord Jesus gave me
a vision of people running in a competition, similar to the one we did here. He
showed me the people who arrived first and celebrated; He showed me the people
who did not give up, even when arriving in positions considered strange; and He
also showed me those who gave up along the way. This stayed in my mind until
today, when it became reality in this competition.
Unlike other competitions, this one was not based on giving
victory and the best prize to the best-ranked—although that honour exists—but
the main objective of this competition is to show and demonstrate in practice
what our arrival in heaven will be like. It does not matter if you arrive in
first, tenth, hundredth, or billionth place—what matters is that you arrive. In
heaven, all who arrive are victorious. Only those who give up walking toward
heaven lose it. May this remain in your hearts, and may God bless you greatly.
I thank you all from my heart!”
How beautiful this is! And what a powerful lesson for each
one of us: we will reach heaven if we do not give up; if we learn to insist,
even without knowing what to do or where to go; if we persist in this
conviction, in this certainty, in this marvellous grace; if we do not give up,
regardless of our position or level—no matter how battered we may be, we will
arrive if we never give up.
Let us insist in prayer and persist in our purpose of never
giving up on our dreams, our plans, and our goals in the presence of the Lord!
I invite you to make this experience together with me:
“Lord God, my beloved Father, I thank You at this moment for
being in Your presence—not because of my merits or anything I have done, but by
the unique grace of Your Son Jesus Christ. I place myself in Your presence to
ask for the grace I have understood from this reflection: the grace to persist,
to insist, and to never give up.
Lord, how many times have I given up on my dreams, given up
on being a better person. Seeing how weak I am and not achieving the things I
aimed for, I settled for being a failure. But now I want to place all my
failures, all my defeats, all my afflictions, and all the bitterness within me
for not having achieved what I planned—into Your hands. I cast out from within
me everything that makes me doubt Your love, Your grace, and Your presence in
my life.
I want, Jesus, to take Your hand and give my entire life to
You—everything I have done well, everything I have done badly, everything that
has happened in my story. I want to expose to You what I still carry inside
that hurts me, the marks of the past that prevent me from going further, from
moving on, that even prevent me from walking with You, Lord (tell the Lord what
hurts you the most).
Beloved Jesus, give me the grace of perseverance, of bold
faith, of believing and taking possession of victory even before everything
happens—because I trust in You. I know that You have the best for me, and if it
has not yet happened, it is because I have not yet learned to persist in Your
presence, as You taught us to be like that widow who did not give up until she
saw her cause won before an unjust judge who feared neither God nor men. Place
in me this gift of persisting and not turning back.
Holy Spirit of love, come and impact me with Your presence
right now and sustain within me the grace of never giving up. I do not want to
give up. I cannot give up. I will not give up. Moved by You, love of the Father
and of the Son, I move forward. I will not fear what is ahead of me, but I will
let myself be guided and led by You. Make me the difference I wish to see in
the world. Lead me to stop making excuses and start finding ways for everything
in me to be transformed. I surrender my freedom to You, Spirit of God.
Eternal gratitude to You, Lord, for infusing in me this love, this light, this peace, this grace that I may not even feel—but I believe has been placed within me. I take possession of every blessing and every grace, every virtue that flows from the Cross, through the Blood and the Wounds of my Saviour. I take possession of all healing and deliverance that You work in me. I take possession of the love of the Father that satisfies my soul and my heart. Glory to You, Lord, forever. Amen.”
May we, inspired by so many means that we have proposed with
perseverance in this reflection, be moved to live this way—never settling for
little, for a mediocre life, or for small things. After all, we were made for
heaven, for great things, for what our eyes cannot yet see, our ears cannot yet
hear, and our hearts cannot yet imagine—for such are the blessings that God has
prepared for us (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:9).
May God bless us and grant us this grace.
**Translated and adapted from Brazilian Portuguese from my other blog vounessadirecao.blogspot.com.
Original post written in 2013.
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