‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’
-Luke 18:4-5

In an alternate universe I’m a famous writer.

That me may be more talented than this me, but the biggest difference between us?

Persistence.

Agatha Christie, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Madelin L’Engle? They had dozens and dozens of rejections before somebody took a chance on them.

They had persistence. Like the widow in this story.

I wrote a novel, put it on Amazon, and sold 9 copies. It sits there today online, gathering dust.

There is no certainty that any of my writing is good enough to attract a publisher, but we’ll never know. I’ve never been persistent enough to find out.

The widow gets justice because she doesn’t stop. She knows what she needs, and she doesn’t relent until she’s worn down the judge. Jesus uses this image to remind us to keep praying, to strive, to not quit.

Can you think of times when you’ve needed to be persistent? I don’t know that there’s ever a guarantee that all that effort will fully pay off, but I know for darned sure that you’ll never get there if you don’t try.

The widow is demanding justice. I’m learning (it’s hard!) to keep going for the sake of a just world. I’m using my voice to bear witness to the rightness of the Kingdom of God, and I’ve decided to just keep making noise about it.

I’d love to promise you that I’m going to turn over a new leaf with writing. We’ll see.

But today, as I learn to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, I’m slowly gaining a head of steam, to keep submitting to Christ’s words, actions, and truth until the unjust throw up their hands in exasperation.

Maybe in 100 years someone will give my book an honorary Pulitzer. I kind of doubt it.

I’d rather my tombstone mention my unrelenting faith, in 3 simple words:

Nevertheless, he persisted.

Have a great week,

Mitch