When I asked the Lord what today’s devo was about he said, “Persistence.”
Not perseverance or faithfulness… persistence.
Now, I am no linguist. But I can be very particular when it comes to certain things and even a little bit stubborn… okay fine, maybe a lot stubborn.
In Finnish we have a word sisu that describes the grit and determination of a person. It’s not just a thing people experience though, it’s considered to be more of an intrinsic characteristic of Finnish people. It’s part of who they are. This stamina or spunk isn’t just a momentary thing either. It’s a measure of integrity that surpasses hardships and sees something through to the end, no matter what!
I did a word search for Bible verses about persistence and found loads about perseverance. So, super stubbornly, I looked up the original Greek words to compare the differences because God did not say to write about perseverance… He said, “Persistence”.
Perseverance [ὑπομονή (hupomonē), for my fellow nerds out there]came up with 32 results in the New Testament and seems to emphasize waiting patiently or enduring something difficult. This is the word used in all the popular verses that might be popping up in your mind right now: “…we run the race with endurance…” (Hebrews 12:1); “…suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope…” (Romans 5:3-4).
Persistence is different! Even though it is often used to describe the same kind of things… both persistence and perseverance showed up in definitions of sisu… it’s different.
Persistence [προσμένω (prosmenō)] only showed up with 6 results! It was used in much less popular verses like: “After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria…” (Acts 18:18); “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat..” (Mark 8:2).
Persistence means to remain. To be with, continue in, to stay.
The 6 times that it’s used in the Bible almost seemed boring or disappointing. Paul stayed over there for this many days, he remained in Ephesus, the crowd had been with Jesus… To hupomonē seemed much more spectacular. To endure and to be steadfast in suffering!! Rather than to plain old prosmeno at someone’s house for a certain amount of time?!
But then it struck me that perhaps persistence is more of a relational word. People can prosmeno with others. We can prosmeno with God.
Are we people who will remain with the Lord? Who will resist the temptations to pursue the more exciting and dramatic options, and simply stay with him? Let’s not be fooled into thinking that this is somehow easier or that it lacks purpose because there are no cool promises attached to it.
The relationship is the purpose.
Lord may we be people who choose daily to remain with you!
To persist in growing in our relationship with you; to persist in doing the hard work of staying.
We really do love you and yet we often struggle to show this to you, to express with our actions the commitment we have to you. We ask forgiveness for the times we have chosen to pursue other people or things to replace the emptinesses we experience; for the times we have allowed our circumstances to carry more weight than what we know to be true in you.
We need you so desperately every day and we ask, Holy Spirit, that you would make us more aware of your presence here with us. Thank you for strengthening us and for giving us the gumption to get back up again, time after time after time.
We love you and we thank you for choosing to prosmeno with us, no matter what.
Amen.