Cautiously Optimistic

[Done in VA]

Okay - back to my joy devotional. I think what it said today is great for us standers particularly in MLC:

Let us throw off everything that hinders & the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. - Hebrews 12:1

The author of Hebrews challenges us to "throw off everything that hinders" in running this race. The New Testament calls this quality "perseverance" and links it intimately with joy. As Paul put it, we "rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance" (Romans 5:3). Scripture doesn't separate joy and suffering; they're held together by perseverance. Nor does perseverance mean grimly gitting one's teeth; there's real joy in it. There's joy in discipline, joy in single-mindedness, joy in straight-forwardly completing what one sets out to do. The key to such perseverance is wholehearted resolve. If only we'll resolve to do something with all our hearts, it's as good as done. Joy rests in our discovery of the unlimited power inherent in a thoroughgoing resolve - including the resolve to be happy at whatever cost.

A prison warden who had weathered many riots once said his secret: "In the middle of a crisis, I plan for the resolution. In a week or a month I know this thing will blow over, so I start planning for that time now." Perseverance is planning for the resolution. Chronic miseries are produced by fear; miracles come through faith.