Stay the Course

The victorious and meaningful Christian life is marked by perseverance. It has always been this way. Even Jesus’ disciples were concerned with knowing when the end of the world would come and when Jesus would set up his kingdom. Jesus told them that in the last days there would be many who would be false teachers and even some would claim to be Christ. These false teachers would deceive many. There would also be much bad news of wars and natural phenomenon such as floods, tornados, fires, hurricanes and the like. In addition, there would be targeted persecution against Christians, and some believers would be imprisoned and others killed. Jesus responded to all of this with these words “but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt 24:13).

Jesus wanted his disciples to pace themselves and not be blown out of the water by the bad news all around them. He wanted them to stay the course and stay in the race. Perseverance was the needed ingredient for those who intended to finish the race like Paul: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:6-7).

Jesus, however, went on to describe the mission of the church to his disciples “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt 24:14). Jesus wanted his church to be steady and not panic when bad things happen all around us. None of these things should disrupt the most important thing—the proclamation of the gospel. Instead of stopping progress, they would be the opportunities to spread the story of Jesus. That is exactly what happened in the book of Acts. The more the church was persecuted, the more it grew. Luke tells us that despite the persecution “the word of God continued to increase and spread” (Acts 12:24).

So no matter how many messiahs appear, we are to reject them and follow Jesus. No matter how many calamities strike the world, we are to understand that these are things that happen in a broken world, but they should not discourage us. Even when we are targeted and made to suffer for our faith, we are to remember that this is what they did to Jesus, and it’s what they will do to us. We are to stay the course!