If courage is grace under pressure, perseverance is its cousin. Perseverance is the virtue of trying again, and then trying again, and again, until we achieve our goal.
Nothing great was ever accomplished without perseverance. Some people have marvelous natural gifts and are capable of wonderful things. But they lack staying power. When they meet something that doesn’t come easily to them they lack the patience to master it. They are outdone by people who will carefully and painfully devote themselves to learning the skill they need.
People who persevere aren’t always the ones who make the headlines. They don’t necessarily shine and glitter. But they have worth, because they know what’s of value in this world and they’re prepared to work for it.
Perseverance is a Christian virtue. The apostle Paul writes about it: he was tempted to give up his missionary work because it was so hard, but he kept going. Without his perseverance, you would not be reading this.
And perseverance will be rewarded, whether it’s in this world or the next. Followers of Christ who persevere in their discipleship are promised a reward in heaven. Sometimes being a Christian is really hard and each day feels like a martyrdom. But that’s when we need to keep our eyes on the prize, just as real martyrs have always done, and persevere to the end.
Here are 15 Bible verses about perseverance:
1. [Of love] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13:7).
2. I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles (2 Corinthians 12:12).
3. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers (1 Timothy 4:16).
4. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised (Hebrews 10:36).
5. [Of Moses] By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible (Hebrews 11:27).
6. Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him (James 1:12).
7. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy (James 5:11).
8. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary (Revelation 2:3).
9. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring (2 Thessalonians 1:4).
10. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1).
11. Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. James 1:12 NIV
12. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 NIV
13. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, Hebrews 12:1 NIV
14. And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. 2 Thessalonians 3:13 NIV
15. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12 NIV
Inspirational quotes about passion
“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.”
Francis Bacon
“A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn.”
Helen Keller
“By perseverance the snail reached the ark.”
C.H. Spurgeon
“Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.”
John Quincy Adams
“The only guarantee for failure is to stop trying”
John C. Maxwell
“When I have and failed, I shall have failed.”
Soren Kierkegaard,
“He who can have patience can have what he will.”
Benjamin Franklin
“No one can travel so far that he does not make some progress each day. So let us never give up. Then we shall move forward daily in the Lord’s way. And let us never despair because of our limited success. Even though it is so much less than we would like, our labor is not wasted when today is better than yesterday!”
John Murray
“We must meet reverses boldly, and not suffer them to frighten us, my dear. We must learn to act the play out. We must live misfortune down, Trot!”
G.K. Chesterton
“Guidance, like all God’s acts of blessing under the covenant of grace, is a sovereign act. Not merely does God will to guide us in the sense of showing us his way, that we may tread it; he wills also to guide us in the more fundamental sense of ensuring that, whatever happens, whatever mistakes we may make, we shall come safely home. Slippings and strayings there will be, no doubt, but the everlasting arms are beneath us; we shall be caught, rescued, restored. This is God’s promise; this is how good he is.”
J.I. Packer
“the difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will and the other from a strong won’t”
Henry Ward Beecher
“Darkness had fallen upon everything for him; but just because of this darkness he felt that the one guiding clue in the darkness was his work, and he clutched it and clung to it with all his strength.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky
“You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere. The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives and the inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it–all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition.”
C.S. Lewis