Ordinarily I wouldn’t take a walk in the heat of July through the neighborhood with my two-year-old. But yesterday that’s what I did as we practiced hand-holding no matter what and not running into the street. What began as a short three-block walk to donate books to the Little Free Library was in actuality a lesson in obedience. My son chattered the whole way, exclaiming over every bird, plant, and car we saw. His sweaty little hand stayed firmly clasped in mine, a miracle at this stage of his childhood and my parenting. I was teaching him to walk next to me, to stay close, to remain by my side at all times, hands clasped. There are too many cars, not enough stop signs, no “children-playing” warnings posted, and too much willful two-year-old determination. With continual reminders to keep holding my hand, my son did about as well as you might expect. Even when he wasn’t holding on to me, I was holding on to him. It was a long, short walk.
About halfway to the library, I noticed an elderly gentleman hunched down over one of those four-footed walkers with the tennis balls on the bottom of the legs. He was standing in his driveway while a caretaker, his son perhaps, looked on. In the span of time it took us to walk an entire block, the man took one step. One step. I watched as he worked repeatedly to lift his foot, put it down, lift his foot, put it down. In all that time, he only managed one small step. I could tell it was taking every ounce of concentration and strength to conquer the length of his short driveway. I’d never seen someone struggle so much with one step. He’ll be exhausted after this, I thought. I paused and watched from across the street. I know it was rude to stare, but I could not tear my eyes away from the man in his nineties fighting hard for a couple of small steps to the door. It was a long, short walk.
In his song, “Faith to Be Strong,” Andrew Peterson says that “This life is not long, but it’s hard.” When I think of the encouragement given to believers throughout the pastoral epistles, a similar sentiment rises from the pages: Jesus is coming soon, but you will suffer while you wait for Him. Be patient and hold fast to the gospel. Our lives may feel long with innumerable days stringing out in front of us, but in the limitless economy of God, our existence here on earth is just a whisper. A tiny, tiny breath. That said, if you have pneumonia or bronchitis, then even the tiniest breath hurts. A short existence does not protect us from suffering. While our path from salvation to glorification is a short walk, it might look a lot like fighting with all your might for one small step on the driveway.
In his first letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul warns Timothy to flee from greed and false teaching. But rather than just running from something, Paul tells Timothy what to run toward.
“But you, man of God, run from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for the faith; take hold of eternal life that you were called to and have made a good confession about in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all and of Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you to keep the command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Tim. 6:11-14
Perseverance in following Christ is a fight sometimes. We all have days when we don’t desire to read the Word or pray, and we certainly don’t want to strike up a conversation with someone about Christ. How awkward! We hope we’ll wake up tomorrow and feel differently but are discouraged when the morning doesn’t immediately produce fuzzy feelings or obvious spiritual growth. Paul’s encouragement applies. Press on. Keep fighting the good fight of faith. Hold fast to the confession of Christ. Paul gave similar words to Timothy in his second letter when he exhorted the young pastor to preach the gospel faithfully and persistently “whether convenient or not” (2 Tim. 4:2).
To be honest, there is not a lot about following Christ that is convenient. Following Christ faithfully pushes against our desire for convenience. Persisting in the faith requires us to, with the Lord’s help, kill our sin every single day. I don’t know about you, but it is never convenient to put my sin to death. It is an uphill fight all the way. It requires me to reject the easy paths of self-indulgence and gospel-hoarding for the treacherous road of denying self, taking up my cross, and following Jesus so I can hand out the gospel liberally. To keep doing this day after day until Jesus returns or calls me home–well, it is as rewarding as it is daunting. It’s a long, short walk up a ten-foot driveway.
Jesus tells us why following Him is worth every hard step: “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it. What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life?” (Matt.16:24-26a). The result is life, real life. A life tethered to Christ on earth means real life with Him for eternity later. We may fight for every shuffling step of sanctification, but He will be with us, working in us and enabling us to keep taking those steps to know Him and make Him known.
We may fight for every shuffling step of sanctification, but He will be with us, working in us and enabling us to keep taking those steps to know Him and make Him known. Share on X“Indeed, most of us are so oppressed with weakness that we make little progress–staggering, limping, and crawling on the ground. But let us move forward according to the measure of our resources and pursue the path we have begun to walk. None of us will move forward with so little success that we will not make some daily progress in the way. Therefore, let us keep trying so that we might continually make some gains in the way of the Lord, and neither let us despair over how small our successes are.” -John Calvin1
I don’t know what awaited the elderly man when we made it inside the house. A comfortable recliner and a nap, I hope. But we do know what awaits us as we move from justification to sanctification to glorification. It’s real life in the presence of God who has ordained every step and helped us persevere through the long, short walk of following Christ.
The way we press forward when the steps are especially hard, when our feet don’t want to comply, when our hearts are weary or cold–the way forward comes in staying close by our Savior’s side. It’s listening to His voice when we want to ignore it. It’s obeying His commands when we’d rather run out into the street of selfish desires. It’s trusting Him to protect our hearts even if following Him is not physically safe. It’s knowing that while we seek to hold fast to Him, He is securely holding fast to us. He is both the source of and the reason for our perseverance.
“Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good reserve for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real” (1 Tim. 6:18-19).
1John Calvin, A Little Book on the Christian Life. (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2017) 16.
Photo by Esther Tuttle on Unsplash
Glenna Marshall is married to her pastor, William, and lives in rural Southeast Missouri where she tries and fails to keep up with her two energetic sons. She is the author of The Promise is His Presence (P&R) and Everyday Faithfulness (Crossway), and Memorizing Scripture (Moody). Connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.