“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise<\/em>” (Hebrews 10:35-36).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n During my boyhood days, we spent many hours on a lake enjoying the outdoors with boating, camping, swimming, and water skiing. I remember my father patiently teaching someone how to water-ski. The slack would come out of the rope and suddenly Dad’s student would pop up on those skis only to quickly fall. This process would be repeated a number of times until the novice was able to get his balance on those skis. Finally, because of my father’s patience and the student’s perseverance, the mission was accomplished and the student was able to enjoy his ride.<\/p>\n The message is clear. It is never God’s will for us to run from a problem, but to press on so that we can go to the next level. The message is clear: Perseverance under pressure pleases God!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by George Slover “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:35-36). During my boyhood days, we spent many hours on a lake enjoying the outdoors with boating, camping, swimming,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1161,1282],"class_list":["post-41880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-endurance","tag-perseverance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":87299,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-perseverance-is-so-important\/","url_meta":{"origin":41880,"position":0},"title":"Why Perseverance Is so Important","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"While searching for inspirational YouTube videos, I was impressed by how many of them encourage viewers to persevere despite major obstacles, failures, and disappointments. Perseverance means persistence, steadfastness, endurance, holding on, standing firm, tenacity, stick-to-it-iveness, keeping on keeping on, stamina, grit, hoeing your row to the end, staying the course,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58557,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/patience-the-art-of-persevering-in-this-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":41880,"position":1},"title":"Patience: The Art of Persevering in this Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Forrest D. Moyer As Peter continued to list the characteristics that one must add, he named \"patience\" as being essential in our lives to keep us from falling and to insure us a part in the \"everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior\" (II Peter 1:5-11). James wrote: \"Indeed,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20862,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/little-by-little\/","url_meta":{"origin":41880,"position":2},"title":"Little by Little","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne Fancher Exodus 23:30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. Proverbs 13:11 Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow. I. Spiritual Growth Little By Little Ephesians 4:13\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28271,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/perfection-or-perseverance\/","url_meta":{"origin":41880,"position":3},"title":"Perfection or Perseverance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ken Green \"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/runner-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89341,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-power-of-perseverance\/","url_meta":{"origin":41880,"position":4},"title":"The Power of Perseverance","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson Bois d'Arc endures. That's why the early settlers in this part of Texas found this practically rot-proof wood so useful for fence posts and foundation blocks. Hang in there! God loves people who stay the course day after day, year after year, no matter what. Marriages and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46445,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/run-with-endurance\/","url_meta":{"origin":41880,"position":5},"title":"Run with Endurance","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Stackhouse We have a wonderfully challenging statement given to us in Hebrews 12:1:\u00a0\"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Runner-180x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/endurance-300x185.jpg\")
Like water skiing, being successful as a Christian takes many hours of work and perseverance. We are like the boxer who gets knocked down but keeps getting up. It involves doing God’s will even when we don’t feel like it. It is being satisfied with the rewards that don’t come instantly but in the next life. It means not giving up our connection with other Christians. It may be working and earning a paycheck even when we are not wild about the job. It includes resolving conflicts with others and accepting help from others to do the right thing.<\/p>\n