Nurturing His Steadfastness Throughout the Year
We can be resolved to keep going and growing because the Lord has given us everything we need to grow in steadfastness, including His Holy Spirit, the very power of God.
“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,
and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and
self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,
and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”
2 Peter 1:5-7
At the outset of the year, setting resolutions or goals ambitiously is easy. However, the follow-through often proves more challenging than we imagine when we excitedly scratch out ways we want to change on paper.
Over the years, my modus operandi has been what some might hear as a boring, under-ambitious “keep going.” However, it’s yielded more fruit than I could’ve imagined, and I believe it’s because steady plodding is one of the Lord’s most common ways of transforming us.
In the above verses, the first thing Peter instructs his readers to supply to their faith is virtue. Virtue can be understood as moral excellence, strength, or resolve. Part of what the Greek definition of this word includes is “eminent endowment.” It speaks to an awareness and belief that the Lord has given us everything we need to pursue the list that follows the word virtue. I encourage you to read the previous verses, 2 Peter 1:2-3 to hear Peter communicate this reality!
We can be resolved to keep going and growing because the Lord has given us everything we need to grow in steadfastness, including His Holy Spirit, the very power of God.
The Thief of Steadfastness and its Antidote
While there are several potential thieves of steadfastness, one particular nasty one that I’ve often had to put to death is comparison. It’s easy to look around and see what everyone else is doing, compare our progress, our ability, or our capacities with others. And we almost never compare fairly, it’s nearly always up; she is doing more or better than me. Nothing can be more paralyzing than this, or more deadly, spiritually speaking.
The Lord has given us all different measures of grace (Eph. 4:7), and whether we like it or not, His dealings of grace are unequal (2 Cor. 12). I do not have the same measure of grace when it comes to wielding words eloquently as several women I admire. I will never run as fast as my sister-in-law, and I will never sing as beautifully as my favorite vocalist.
How silly would it be to constantly think about that reality, become discouraged, and forsake the measure of grace He’s given me? Paul emphatically tells the Corinthians, “…it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good…God arranged the members in the body each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body?” (2 Cor 12: 6b-7, 18-20).
It’s not only silly, I mentioned, but it’s deadly, spiritually speaking. As women, God created us to be life-givers, and we cannot give life when we’re busy comparing, which leads to discontentment, ingratitude, and, ultimately, death. Life can’t grow where it’s not being nurtured.
The antidote isn’t a simple “stop comparing,” as much as it is to redirect yourself. Yes, remove that coat of comparison (do stop it!), but put on the coat of gratitude when you do. When the temptation to compare crops up, re-route your mind to gratitude. Thank the Lord for what He’s given you, and return to that resolve to keep going in it. And in that moment, do it. Whatever it is. Don’t allow yourself the liberty to linger without good work, but offer your instruments as works of righteousness and get on to what the Lord has put in front of you to do (Rom. 6:13)!
Be Surprised by Joy
As you resolve to keep going in whatever the Lord has put in your path to do, you will likely look back and be surprised at what He’s accomplished in and through you. Your resolve to read your Bible today, then again tomorrow, and the next day will result in 365 days of Bible reading in 2024. Your exercise three days a week will amount to 156 days of exercise, and so on.
Maybe making new goals will be the most helpful for you. But if it’s not, keep going in what He’s already called you to do. When you least expect it, you will find that you’ve grown into a woman of steadfastness, one who puts one foot in front of the other, again and again, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In His Word
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).
In Your Life
What are a few things in your life you need to keep going in? Do you tend to set goals? If so, are they realistic?
We Recommend
We’ve thoughtfully included two recommended resources to support you in strengthening your dedication to the Lord’s work. These materials are designed to empower and guide you on your journey, providing valuable insights and inspiration. We believe they will contribute significantly to your steadfastness in serving the Lord with passion and purpose.
- An article: A Joyful Cog in His Giant Plan
- A book: Life Management for Busy Women: Living Out God’s Plan with Passion and Purpose by Elizabeth George
Let’s Connect
You can find Kelly on Instagram or her blog where, with the Word as her guide, she writes about what it looks like to invite the Lord into every area of our heart and life.