A lot of things have been said about the value of perseverance. We all know the good old fable about the tortoise and the hare. And the great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, "The snail would never have made it on the ark, except through long perseverance!" Winston Churchill led an entire nation through World War II with his grim determination to go on to the end and never surrender or give up.

The book of James puts it this way, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (James 1:2-4 TNIV).

An apostle of Jesus speaks about persevering when he says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing" (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

The crown comes after persevering through the fight!
The crown comes after persevering through the fight and the race. Perseverance will make life work better for you today, so with God's help, I want to encourage you to "keep on keeping on."