One essential characteristic that all Christians must possess is steadfastness.  Once a person becomes a child of God and enters the race of Christianity, he must add steadfastness to his faith.

2 Peter 1:5–6 (ESV)
⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness…

Notice that one of the things that Peter says we must supplement our faith with is self-control, which speaks of the rigid self-discipline we must exercise if we want to overcome the wiles of the devil consistently.  How long do we have to exercise this discipline?  The answer is, as long as we are in the race.  This is why being steadfast is so critical.

A lot of different things happen to us in life.  One moment everything is going great, then, without notice, a hurdle is cast into our path.  We never know what tomorrow will bring, but when it brings something difficult, that does not give us an excuse to lay aside our Christianity.  We must plod through life patiently, absorbing whatever it throws at us with courage, never taking our eyes off the main goal of being in heaven with God and all His saints.  Without steadfastness, our souls are always in danger.  Paul warned the saints at Corinth about this.

1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)
⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.  

The “therefore” here points back to Paul’s great teaching on the resurrection.  Being raised from the dead and caught up to meet the Lord in the air is our comforting hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), but to experience that great moment, Paul tells us we must be steadfast and immovable.  Why? Because the Lord can come back at any time, and if He finds us unfaithful, all the labor that we have done will have been in vain.

Many in our Lord’s church are rolling the dice with their souls.  One week they come to services on Sunday morning and Sunday night, the next week they only come in the morning, forsaking the assembling of the saints for no reason except their lack of commitment to the Lord.  Inconsistency plagues their life as children of God in almost every way.  They are inconsistent in prayer and Bible Study, and even the moral principles of God’s Word are only applied for short periods and then ignored for a while.  There is no greater gamble than gambling with your soul.

We can take the risk of condemnation out of the equation by adhering to the Word of God steadfastly.  The truth is, those who are converted to Christ will strive to emulate Him every day, serving God with patience in both good and bad times.  Furthermore, they will do so with joy.

The Greek word translated steadfast in 2 Peter 1:6 is hypomonē.  It is one of my favorite Bible words.  It means, not only to endure but to have “cheerful endurance” (Strong).  Living steadfastly in the Lord should never be a burden to us.  We should be willing to serve and sacrifice for God cheerfully.  Only then will the trials of life help us to fly rather than fall.  Let us all continue to be steadfast.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.