Persistence

May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

John 17:23

Jesus came to bring us eternal life and to make God known. His prayer was that His disciples would be unified in the same way that He and the Father were unified. He prayed that the same love that the father had for the son would also be in them. In the Old Testament, the prophets wanted to know God. In the New Testament, Jesus tells Phillip that the way to know God is to know Him. (John 14:9) In Exodus 33:13-20, Moses asked God to teach him His ways that he might know Him. He understood that when we observe someone’s ways, we learn a lot about them. Think about your parents. As children we watch our parents and we learn to model their ways.

I remember as a child, my parents modeled for me the value of persistence.

My father’s favorite quote by Calvin Coolidge is, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence; talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent…” As I observed my parents, they taught me the value of persistence by the way they lived their lives.

What about you? Do you want to know God? If so, observe His Son Jesus Christ. He has made His Father known to us by His actions on earth.

He has sent His Holy Spirit to live in us to make Him known. Take the time today to seek to know Him and persist in being one with Jesus, as He and the Father are one.

Heavenly Father,

Give me persistence not to give up in my pursuit of Christ. Teach me His ways so that I might know Him. Enable me to not only observe His ways, but also empower me to live as Christ.

In Jesus’ name, Amen