Persistence Pays
How many times do you try something before giving up?
Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, `Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, `Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" - Luke 18:1-8
Sometimes it feels like we are banging our heads against the wall to no avail when we repeatedly seek to be acknowledged.
In today's parable, Jesus tells of a woman who keeps bothering a judge until he gives in and listens to her complaint.
But most of the time, repeating the same approach does not yield results. We need to change it up, try something else, or else we feel we are getting nowhere.
The message here, though, is about God. God will listen to our cries more swiftly than anyone here on earth. So, even if persistence here pays off eventually, we can have faith in God's mercy always.
But Jesus ends on a sour note.
He says even though this is true, will he find any faith on earth when he comes?
He knows us so well.
And look around. What do we see today? Are there many who have faith?
We say we seek justice for all, but what do we really mean? Don't we just want our lives to be better?
Maybe we should look to the one who listens to us when we cry and not waste our time trying to change those around us who would rather ignore us.
More to come...