Get Godly Grit

pastordallaspettis
Feb 17, 2023
2 min read

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Matthew 10:22

In this verse, Jesus is sending His disciples into ministry. He tells them to preach the Kingdom, heal the sick, cleanse lepers, and cast out devils. Oh, and by the way, brothers will turn against brother, fathers against children, children against parents, and finally, you will be hated of all men and eventually be martyred. Who wouldn’t want to sign up for that mission?!

I just love the realness of Jesus and the honesty of His words. We tend to persuade people to follow Christ by telling them what a good life it is. We talk of love, community, teamwork, and servant leadership. Following Christ comes with great benefits we say, such as happiness, healing, wholeness of mind, and soul satisfaction. While all these things, and many more, are certainly true, we fail to tell them that church people can be unkind and, at times, even unloving. They can become territorial, jealous, and hate you for those reasons alone. At times, they can be slow to assimilate new people into their circles. (Some of you probably didn’t appreciate the past few sentences, but none of us can deny it.)

No one ever prepared me for some of the things we would face in our walk with Christ, or our decision to follow Him into ministry. I guess that’s why Christ Himself left us with verses like the one in Matthew above.

I have been blessed beyond measure to know Christ as my Lord and Savior. The thoughts of His marvelous mercy and grace still overwhelm me! Not to mention that He called me to serve Him in ministry – absolutely amazing! However, ministry has had its share of challenges. I have never been one to bleed all over others, pouring out my wounds and woes in public, nor will I today. What I will share, is this walk with Christ is not without its pain and disappointment.

So how do you deal with it and live in the joy of the Lord? First let me say, it requires a lot of wrestling. Of course, it takes a lot of prayer, Bible study, fasting, and godly counsel and encouragement. But somewhere in your walk with Christ you will need godly grit. It’s more than determination and perseverance. It takes godly grit!

Godly grit is how you love your enemy. Godly grit is how you hold your broken heart in one hand and serve people with the other. The New Testament word for godly grit is ‘endurance.’ Jesus said if we endure the pain and persecution for His sake we would be saved. Paul told Timothy to endure hardness as a good soldier. Godly grit is the grace of God to endure, persevere, and prevail for the glory of God! Fall, but get up; get set back, but take another step; cry, BUT DO NOT QUIT! God is going to give you the grace and grit to finish!

Do a study on the word endurance. You will be blessed and strengthened.