Keep GoingSample

This is not a parable of comparison, but of contrast. Jesus doesn’t tell us this story to highlight the similarities between us and its fictional characters, but to illustrate our differences. We are not the widow. God is not an unjust judge. He is greater than. And, so are we.

This is the upside-down kingdom. 

We are not regulated to man-made labels. For in the Kingdom, we know the last to be first and the poor to be rich. What we know to hold power and influence in the world means nothing in the Kingdom. After all, we can’t buy faith. Only receive it. 

God is not reluctant to deliver us. Yet, I suspect that there are times we believe that.

This perspective of God makes everything harder. We liken persistence to begging and pleading. As if it’s our job to soften God’s heart. Or, that His heart was hard to begin with. We get louder not out of belief, but out of desperation. We try harder. We move faster. We hustle and strive. We get so tired. But, persistence isn’t something we have to muster up. It’s a result of the peace we’re given when we know we’re loved and cared for by God. We keep going because God never fails. We keep fighting because God already won. We keep showing up to the work that’s been put in front of us not because we don’t think God hears or sees us, but because we know He does. We don’t lose heart or grow weary because we know the heart of the Father. 

CONSIDER THIS —

• How are we different than the widow?  
• How is God different than the judge?  
• When life doesn't go according to plan how does that change what we know to be true about God? How might we challenge that misconception and put truth back in its place?