Persisting Together

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV)

That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 1 Corinthians 12:25-27 (ESV)

In our current Wednesday morning Bible study (From Daughters to Disciples by Lynn Japinga), we’re focusing on women in the New Testament. In the chapter on The Book of Acts, the author points out that the early Christians, following the death and resurrection of Christ, had to “persist together”. They did this to make sense of Jesus’ direction to “make disciples of all nations” in light of the fact that he was no longer with them physically. The definition of “persist” is, in part: to continue firmly in a course of action in spite of difficulty, opposition, or failure. 

Author Lynn Japinga says: “they were bound by their love of Jesus and their curiosity about the future, and by the desire to stick together and see what would happen next.” She discusses how, after Jesus told his disciples to “make disciples of all nations”, that message may have seemed broad to them, and may have caused uncertainty. “They shared the same passion for Jesus and the gospel. They were committed to Jesus and to each other. They were not sure what would come next, but they knew enough to stay together and draw strength from each other”. Japinga points out that it is the same for Christians now. She lists high levels of conflict, violence, disease, and pain in the world. “When it feels like the world is falling apart, it is even more important to persist together”.

Japinga goes on to explain what it might mean to persist together. She shares something of which we are perhaps all aware: the fact that, as a church or body of Christ, we do not always agree. It would come as no surprise that they did not always agree in the early church, either. However, we are "still called to make a difference in the world."

I think of us a bible study, “persisting together”. As a church, “persisting together”. As a community, “persisting together”.  As the body of Christ in the world, “persisting together”. Wherever we exist in fellowship and community and draw strength from one another through Christ, we “persist together”.

Prayer: Dear Lord, even in uncertain times, we can draw strength from one another, and from You. Help us to know that as Christians we are stronger when we, as believers, persist together. Amen.

Donna Gustafson