This summer, we are embarking on an 8-week journey through the book of Revelation. Our prayer for you as you read this book and we tackle it together is that you will be able to see Jesus clearly each day, and that it will help you to remain faithful and live in hopeful anticipation of the day when Jesus will return!
Welcome to Week 5!
Day 7: Reflection Day
Read Revelation 13:10b
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.
Read Revelation 14:12
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
Patient endurance and faithfulness…That’s what the followers of Jesus were called to in our reading this week. I was amazed at all they would encounter. There were beasts of the land and sea, and more judgments on the earth, but a faithful remnant stood steadfast through it all!
As I reflected on all of this, I was reminded that what we read isn’t just something that was written for people long ago – or for people in the future- but it is meant to impact us here and now, too. So then, what does that mean for us today? The world is a crazy place with lots of heartache and confusion, and disaster often feels like it is right around the corner. I have to be honest, some days patient endurance and faithfulness feel impossible! What does patient endurance and faithfulness look like in today’s world?
To help us wrap our heads around it, let’s break down what patient endurance and faithfulness mean:
Patient (adjective) is defined as doing a task with steady, careful attention without rushing. And being able to stay calm and not get angry when waiting or facing trouble …that’s hard…really hard!
Endurance is defined as the ability to withstand hardship or adversity, especially the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity …that doesn’t make me feel any better.
Faithfulness is the quality of being loyal, steadfast, and true to an obligation, person, or standard. It means keeping promises, remaining devoted through difficulties, and accurately matching an original fact or form.
What patient endurance and faithfulness look like in today’s world, in short, is Jesus. We can take our cues from His character as He walked the earth – the way He met the challenges of difficult things, dealt with difficult people, and faced impossible circumstances and pain. That same patient endurance and faithfulness extends to us today, too. He sees our sin and the distance it creates between us, but it is His love for us that holds Him steady – waiting and desiring a closer relationship with us. He is faithfully holding out grace and mercy and justice to us…because that’s who He is. He is standing steady in the storm of our lives because He knows the ending of the story…His love wins.
Maybe that is what we can hold onto, too, as we are also called to live lives of patient endurance and faithfulness.
One of my favorite writers/theologians, Dr. Joel Muddamalle, wrote – “In the middle of our distress, it helps to remember that we are also in the middle of God’s deliverance.”
His love wins! It gives us hope in the midst of difficulty. It allows us to face each day with a steady resolve to be who God has created us to be, to be more like Him, to share that with the world, and to wait with expectation for the day when He will restore all things.
