Stubborn For Christ (Devotional]

Devotions ChopChop ^ | March 25, 2009 | Dave Miller (tenger)

[tenger]

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Hebrews 11:7

I return to Noah because he's such an intriguing man of God. I was thinking about him today and it dawned on me: Noah was stubborn.

That's it. Yes, he had faith. No one denies that. But he had grit and spunk that few ever had. He preached righteousness for 120 years. How many converts? Today, the church growth experts would shut down and defund his gigantic construction project for lack of "results."

Say what you want about Noah, but he was a stubborn man of God.

I've traveled all over the world and lived in places you only hear about on the news. I don't really consider myself stubborn until I recall what I've had to do just to get there: support raising (and subsequent rejection), prayer letters, visas, passports, shots, belongings placed in two duffle bags, giardia (google it), insults because of my skin color and nationality, pockets picked, regular power and water outages, and a whole host of other events. I was stubborn. I had to be.

And chances are, if you've known God for any length of time, you've had to be stubborn for God too. You've had to make tough decisions that non-believers didn't have to face. Your faith gets regularly ridiculed in the media. At times it's totally unfair and downright nasty. But you press on. Giving up is not an option.

Keep it up. Keep up the faith you knew when you were a baby Christian. Hang in there. You're not alone. You are not alone. Renew that first love you had for Him.

Become stubborn for Christ!

[Chong]

When the world says, “Give up,”
Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”

(Don’t know who the author is.)

[labette]

"..He preached righteousness for 120 years. How many converts?.."

Good point.

[wendy1946]

The story of Noah is a true story; many if not most remaining animals owe their existence to Noah. Nonetheless as you read in Greek, Roman, Chinese and other literature, handsfull of men and animals also survived on mountains and on anything which could float for the better part of a year.

If any kangaroo had been saved in the ark and then found its way from somewhere around modern Turkey to Australia, then the bones of at least one kangaroo would have turned up somewhere along that route by now.