What Jesus Did! 'Persistence!' — Luke 11:5-8

One of the ways the rabbis often reasoned with people in Jesus' day was by comparing a lesser thing with a greater one. This type of comparison is all that is possible when saying something about God, so in this example, Jesus used the same practice. He used a principle of human perseverance with a neighbor and emphasized that if perseverance is effective among human neighbors, how much more will it be true of our perseverance when requesting the action of God? If someone keeps asking a neighbor or acquaintance, the person may grant the request just to avoid the embarrassment of not helping or to stop being bothered. If persistence is effective for requests made to humans who are imperfect and selfish, how much more will we receive gracious things from our heavenly Father who longs to give good gifts to his children!