Annie Taylor left Britain in 1884 at age 29 to work in Tibet. She took five years to learn the Tibetan language and culture and endured extreme cold and blinding sleet and snow storms. She was robbed several times and abused and betrayed by those she had hired as protectors and guides. Thieves left her virtually destitute. She lived on very limited supplies and slept in the open many nights. On one journey through the mountains, two strong men died of exposure, and Annie later wrote, “That I should have survived the exposure of this journey, to which two strong men had succumbed, was indeed marvelous.” Through all these trials she persevered.
Surely perseverance is part of what Jesus meant when he said to his disciples, “Remain in me” (John 15:4, 5, 6, 7). During their last meeting together before his crucifixion, He repeated the words over and over to these men who had been with him in almost every circumstance for the last few years. A few paragraphs later he would say, “But if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. . . . If the persecuted me, they will persecute you also. . . .” (18, 20). The disciples would need to persevere. They would need to remain in Him.
Our main troubles may not come from persecution, but whatever we face in life, the key is to remain in Him, to persevere through the difficulties, to go on to the end, to finish the course. Abe Lincoln struggled as a young man to become a country lawyer; and he wrote to a friend, “If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half done already.”
We don’t need perseverance to accomplish easy tasks. Jesus knew it was going to be tough for disciples, and that’s why He encouraged them to remain in Him. They would be tempted to fall by the wayside. They could easily be discouraged, and discouragement is the enemy of perseverance.
There is a famous story concerning Walter Payton. During a Monday night football game between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants, one of the announcers observed that Payton, the Bears’ running back, had accumulated over nine miles in career rushing yardage. The other announcer remarked, “Yeah, and that’s with somebody knocking him down every 4.6 yards!”
Jesus’ words, “Remain in me,” are not a call to stiff-backed stoicism. A few sentences later, Jesus changes from “Remain in me” to “Remain in my love.” This is not just a challenge, but an amazing invitation.
Prayer: Lord, give me the strength to be faithful. Help me not let my guard down when times are easy, and help me to lean on You when they are tough. I can do it only by Your strength. You are my strength and my shield.
Author: Lindsay Hislop was raised in southern Scotland and southern Ontario and now lives in the southern United States. He worked in the engineering field for 15 years (mostly in Canada) before pursuing an academic career. He has taught for over thirty years at Columbia International University. He also serves as an elder in his church, where he teaches and preaches regularly. He is married to a wonderful wife Pam and has two terrific children, Holly, who lives in Canada, and Doug, who lives in Columbia. His four grandchildren, Isaac, Madeline, Lindsay, and Dolan, are also pretty special. He likes doing carpentry and odd jobs around the house.
