A Steadfast Faith Series

To make no gain for one’s labor is a perfectly natural cause for

disappointment. Jesus knew this feeling often as His disciples failed

to grasp His teaching, and especially when Judas betrayed Him.

Paul knew it well when he wrote with a saddened heart that Demas

had forsaken him. Many have trained up a child in the way he

should go, but then see them depart from it. Many are those whose

labors have been in vain because those with whom they labored did

not have a steadfast faith.

It is important that we recognize that proverbs are not the same

as promises. Our faith will be weakened if we assume that following

a proverb is a certain thing. The proverb about training up a child

in the right way as the best insurance of a good adulthood is obvious

wisdom, but it is no guarantee of the result in every case. The best

example of an exception was the very man who wrote the proverb.

Solomon departed far from all he was taught, and this wisest of men

became a fool. The Bible could not be clearer on the matter that a

good start without a good finish is of little value. Christ is the alpha

and omega, and he who starts with Christ must end with Christ, and

so the challenge to persevere runs all through the New Testament. It

is he who endures to the end that shall be saved.

This concept is obvious in other realms of life. It is not the

marriage ceremony that determines the value of a marriage. It is

the perseverance to the end that counts. The good start is easy and

everyone can make a good start. Many, however, cannot persevere

to the end, but become matrimonial apostates. It is easy to start the

race, but the finish is what really matters, and so it is in the

Christian life. It is one thing to start on the way, and another thing

to keep going all the way. What we really need is not starting power

but staying power, and Paul makes it clear in these verses that the

source of that staying power that perseveres regardless of

circumstances is a steadfast faith.

In the whole book of I Thessalonians Paul uses the word faith 8

times, but 5 of those 8 are all packed into chapter 3:2-10, where he

deals with the their trials, and the victory gained by steadfast faith.

If you read this section carefully, noting the use of the word faith,

you will see how significant Paul felt it to be. It was his object of

concern, and Satan’s object of attack. It was their cause for victory,

and Paul’s cause for rejoicing. We want to look at the basic

characteristic of a steadfast faith that is brought out in these verses.

A steadfast faith is an overcoming faith. The very idea of a

steadfast faith implies that it is being attacked, and that there is

some power trying to overcome it. This is also what makes faith a

living thing rather than a lethargic thing. As Gerhard Ebling said,

“Faith would cease to be faith if it were not threatened.” A faith

which can be taken with no struggle and no cost is not likely to play

a vital role in one’s life. It is in this sense that God uses affliction for

good by making our faith a living and steadfast faith. It is for this

end that He allows Satan to tempt us.

It is never the external circumstances, but the internal response

that makes the difference between a strong and a weak faith. Paul

did not know how the Thessalonians reacted, and this was what was

causing his anxiety. He didn’t ask Timothy to go and find out how

bad things were, but to know their faith, because that is the deciding

factor. If it is strong, nothing can make any difference. If it is weak

anything can cause them to fall. It is important to recognize this.

We have mentioned it before in our study of Satan that there is

nothing he can do directly on our will to cause it to choose evil. He

can only use means to influence the will. God’s promise to the

believer is that He will not allow us to be tempted above what we are

able to endure. This means that there is nothing that can happen to

the Christian that in itself as the power to cause him to fall.

God will never permit anything that would certainly defeat His

child. Where then do we look for the cause of casualties in the battle

with Satan? We look at the nature of the faith in a person, just as

Paul did, and if it does not exhibit a power to overcome temptation,