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Consistency

The other day, I bought a shirt. It looked good in the store and I tried it on to be sure it fit. After I got home, I noticed that it had a rather significant flaw in the material across the shoulders, something I couldn’t see in the fitting room mirror. Without a thought, I took it back the next day to exchange for a good one. This was accomplished smoothly and graciously, with no questions asked.

It made me think about the product standards our North American consumer society demands. We expect quality and we expect consistency. If we don’t get these from one brand, we quickly switch to another. We insist on products that meet our needs and our expectations.

Coming at it from the other side, if you deliver a product that is consistently inconsistent, you will be categorized as a producer of your worst product. It won’t matter how wonderful occasional successes in the past were. If what you are offering today is disappointing, that is what most people will be thinking about when your name comes up.

When we look at this from a spiritual point of view, there is a challenge for us. Many of us have rather spotty spiritual lives. With a little extra effort, we can put together a Sunday morning effort which looks pretty good to the casual observer. Much more challenging is to live daily in a way that glorifies God through conformity to the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In his first letter to the Christians in Corinth, Paul turns to the world of sport for examples. He wrote: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

If a runner becomes distracted by things other than the race she will lose. It’s not enough to run a tightly focussed first lap and then let her attention be diverted by the weather or the crowd or what she'll do after the race. A boxer must exercise great self control, not allowing anything to draw his attention away from the activity at hand. It’s not enough to fight with skill and determination for the first couple of rounds and then start looking to see how the fans are reacting. Athletic contests are won through consistent effort from start to finish.

Many have run a good spiritual race for a few laps and then been disqualified when other interests drew them away from the disciplines necessary for victory. Many have fought a good spiritual fight at the beginning only to be knocked out of the ring by a temptation that came upon them when their attention was diverted.

Hebrews 3 challenges us with a couple of verses regarding the need to persevere in consistency. Verse six reminds us that “Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.” (Hebrews 3:6 NIV) A little later, in verse fourteen, we read that “We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.” (Hebrews 3:14 NIV) Both of these quotations pivot on the word “if.”

Let’s not lose the significance of what the inspired writer is communicating here. Occasional stellar performances cannot take the place of consistent diligent Christian living – all the way to the very end.

Ron Hughes
© December 2007