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Perseverance Is Not Resignation


Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3-4)

          In yesterday’s chapter of Long Obedience In The Same Direction, Eugene Peterson wrote something that I highlighted in a previous reading. He said, “…perseverance is not resignation…” I apparently needed to learn the difference before. I clearly still do. Sometimes, it feels as if I’ve done nothing but give up, all my life. Oh, I don’t give up on issues or principles, but I think I give up on God, and I know I give up on me. People tell me that I should do this, or I should pursue that. I should move somewhere with a better economy. But I seem to take the attitude that “This is just the way it’s going to be, from now to the end of eternity.”
          Yes, we’re back to a definitional issue. There is perseverance, which means keeping on keeping on (I’ll add to this in a moment), and resignation, which means keeping on keeping on, and there’s resistance which means not keeping on keeping on. I struggle with the first two because I’m pretty sure that if I weren’t resigned, I’d be resisting. How does one persist without resisting? 
          Part of the answer, I think, is in getting a good look at the destination. With perseverance, the destination is not the same as the road. With resignation, the destination is the same as the road, and with resistance, both the destination and the road are rejected. I think I spend far too much time resigned, and far too little persevering.

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