For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
I watched my Twitter Feed explode with one-liners a few months ago. The words “Blown Away”, “Amazing” and “Life Changing” were bandied about with some regularity. The many, many conferences held every year feature so many incredibly talented public speakers and so much good material. I want to be clear that almost without exception I highly respect the achievements, concepts and talents of every one of them. Why then is there not an international explosion of amazing Christian leadership throughout the world after such a life changing, mind-blowing, billion dollar events?
I grew up in the developing years of what I am going to call the “Conference Culture”. Whether it was “The One Minute Manger”, “Evangelism Explosion”, FISH (that was a fun one), Service that Sells, Promise Keepers, The OZ Principle, Who Moved My Cheese, Emotional Intelligence, 21 Irrefutable Laws…well you get the picture…I found one thing to be true:
The more “blown away”, the more “life changing”, the more “amazing” attendees found the speakers and content of any given conference, the less likely it was to have a lasting impact. The men and women who were truly impacted by the content of any given conference were those who already had a framework that the principles and concepts could fit into.
Hupomone living is about building that framework. Notice the end of the last word in that sentence, work. Paul called Timothy to exactly that kind of work.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15
Paul goes on to tell Timothy: Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.” 2 Timothy 2:19
It is on this firm foundation that we can build the framework of Hupomone living. We engage the prayer, direction, promises and thanksgiving that will remove us from the reactionary world of circumstances and place us solidly in the steadfast, persevering world of the will of God. It is only then that those “blown away”, “life changing” sound bytes that are all too quickly lost in the clutter of life to be soon replaced by the next “blown away”, “life changing” sound bytes will no longer blow you away. They will find that niche, being plugged into a persevering lifestyle that is about maturing and growing anchored on the firm foundation. That sound byte is unlikely to change your life, but Jesus will.
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
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