Holding onto Faith Despite the Pressure to Let Go
It’s getting harder to hold onto faith.
It’s a long way home and we’re tempted to wonder if we’ll ever make it–if home ever really existed anywhere but our imaginations.
I remember learning about Tokyo Rose in WWII. Women broadcasters who spouted propaganda over the airwaves to discourage the Allied troops. “Give up. All hope is lost. You have no chance of winning. Your country is evil and your leaders have abandoned you.”
Words like this played on like white noise against a backdrop of war as they stood their ground, holding out what could seem like the impossible hope to soon return home to their loved ones.
This is not unlike the spiritual forces at work against us now. The spirit of the age erects strobing lights and disheartening deceit played on a loop – Why don’t you just give up on Jesus? He’s not coming back. He’s certainly not coming for you. Why continue to hold out hope? Why continue to minister, to labor, to care? None of it matters.
But it does. You matter. You matter to Jesus.
The looped white noise is a lie. Perseverance is the call of our age. Persevere in love, in hope, in faith, in calling. And we may be a pivotal generation.
Know that there will be a last generation, one that will face unimaginable testing. Consider that they will need role models who demonstrated faith that hangs on, faith that leans on the power of the Holy Spirit to persist, faith that clings to love by its fingernails and ignores the temptation to let go.
Imagine a generation of older saints who model life, hearts flowing with the river of life, bearing fruit in old age, eyes set on the hope of heaven and hearts of flesh, not stone, willing to be broken by what breaks the heart of God persevering against all odds in love for others, in obedience to God’s Word, in showing mercy to the outcast and compassion for the brokenhearted. Imagine that we are those saints.
Let it be our mission to leave no weary brother or sister behind, gasping for air on the side of the narrow road having yielded to the lies that slip in over the transom of faith. Let it be our practice to rely on Jesus, Jesus who is in our hearts, to refresh us, moment by moment, with truth and grace.
Daniel prophesied that the evil one would “speak words against the Most High and wear out the saints.” But we will not wear out because the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. The fullness of Christ is sufficient to sustain us even in these times. From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
Speak words of grace today. Words full of life and light. Encourage one another. Persevere in the faith.
If you are empty, if you’re succumbing to the false narrative filling the air, go to Jesus and receive.
He can refresh you, restore you, remind you who you are and fill you with renewed hope.
And even into our graying years, we will be signposts for those who come behind us for we are the veterans who will come to their minds in battles to come.
Persevere. Persevere. Persevere. We will get home. He is coming. He is love. He is true. Jesus.
Holding onto faith when everything tells us to let go. https://t.co/cIgvBBQrvw #faith #Jesus
— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) August 5, 2022
