Perseverance

Perseverance

Hebrews 12:1-2

            “The force of the waves is in their perseverance.” (Gila Guri)

            Years ago Harry Belafonte recorded a song about a wave and a rock.  I can’t remember the title or the lyrics, but the message of the song is that change comes slowly.  The wave crashes over the rock and breaks up, but in its action it wears away a bit of the rock.  Day after day, year after year, wave after wave the rock is changed, worn away, smoothed.

            I’ve experienced a speeded-up version of this action.  One year for Christmas my daughter received a machine that smoothed rocks to make jewelry.  The stone was placed in a container with water and some substance that wore down the rough edges.  Little by little the stone was changed until its inner beauty became evident, and it could be set in a necklace, or bracelet or ring.  It didn’t take as long as the action of the waves, but it was the same idea.  The perseverance of the machine changed the rock.

            We experience perseverance in our spiritual lives.  An old hymn begins, “God is working His purpose out as year turns into year.”  The melody reinforces the words, as a single note is repeated to enhance the impression of slow, deliberate movement.  The text speaks of God’s action over extended time, working to bring about the age when “the earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.”

            God has all the time in the world.  We think in shorter terms because that is all we have on this earth.  Whatever we accomplish must be done in the comparatively few years of life we are given.  God, however, has as long as it takes to change the world and fulfill God’s plan.  Like the water washing away the rock bit by bit, God is constantly moving the world to the pristine condition for which it was intended.

            Over a much more abbreviated time, in a much more speeded-up manner, God is working His purpose out in us.  Little by little the waves of God’s Spirit work in us and on us to bring about God’s purpose for us.  The Spirit washes over us with the same inevitability of the waves on the rock, smoothing us out, wearing away the rough edges, making our inner beauty more evident.  It doesn’t happen all at once.  The change is often imperceptible.  We may know we’re changing, but the world may not recognize the difference for weeks, months, even years.  What was alright for us yesterday becomes something to change today.  Old habits must be discarded.  Outmoded ways of thinking must be eliminated.  Speech patterns must be changed, until God’s purpose for us is revealed in all its beauty.

            These are not separate actions.  They are interrelated and interwoven.  God cannot change the world unless individuals are changed.  The waves of God’s Spirit wash over us first; then we become the waves that wash over the world.  God is working His purpose out, and the change comes through us.

            Could God change everything in an instant to bring about the perfection of creation?  We believe that is possible; but for whatever reason, God has chosen to work by means of spiritual evolution, slowly but surely, one person at a time, one wave at a time, one rock at a time.

            How long will it take?  We have no idea, nor should we worry about it.  All we can concern ourselves with is the changes that must occur in us.  We fit into God’s overall plan the way God sees fit.

            So let us run the race we’re called to run, laying aside all that weighs us down, all the rough edges, all the protruding corners, until we are smoothed out, until God’s beauty shines through us, and our purpose becomes clear.