Perseverance is to success what sugar is to candy.
James 1:12
Today’s Tiny Words. Big Life. quote ponders the concept of success and how it cannot be achieved without perseverance.
To understand that more deeply, let’s persevere and keep it rolling with a musical theme…
Can you think of a musical artist that’s known as a “one hit wonder”?
It might take a minute because, well, they’re only famous because of the one thing they did. They’re harder to remember than an artist who strings together hit after hit.
Got one?
Normally, when I think of someone like that, I tend to think they “made it big” through dumb luck – that their song was “in the right place at the right time” and they didn’t have to work as hard as others did.
To put it bluntly, I’d be wrong about that.
Success doesn’t come easy. Even “one hit wonders” have to spend hours in the recording studio, laying down tracks, time and time again… takes and re-takes, just to get it right.
And you know something else, I’d even bet that through the difficult and stressful process of recording their album, they had moments of doubt, thinking their hard work would never payoff, AKA, trials and tribulation.
In today’s Tiny Words. Big Life. Bible verse, we read how Jesus’s brother, James, tells us that the testing of our faith through difficult circumstances produces perseverance. He also tells us that we should “consider it pure joy” when we encounter trials in life.
He also tells us that hearing The Word of God is not enough. We have to live our lives in obedience to The Word. Those who do not live in obedience after hearing The Word are like someone who “looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like”.
In other words, they’re like a piece of candy without sugar – a “one hit wonder” on the music chart of life.
The Tiny Words. Big Life. takeaway is this: You will fail. You will have trials and troubles. Pray for strength to weather the storm. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He will not abandon you but instead, He will use the trials and your faith to produce spiritual endurance, so that you may complete the race and live with Him in all of eternity.
So live your life with this music theme in mind… When you reach the Pearly Gates and an angel is singing your song from the Book of Life, you want to be known for your “double-platinum album” of faith and obedience to God, not a “one hit wonder” that heard The Word and promptly “tumbled off the charts”.
James 1:12
12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.