Falling From Steadfastness

By Michael Pemberton

“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your steadfastness.”  -1 Peter 3:17

 I have been cold before.  I mean, after all, I grew up in northern Michigan.  But I don’t ever remember feeling like this.  I am actually in pain all over.  The man next to me is beginning to shake noticeably.  “He won’t last much longer,” I think to myself.  Sure enough, he falls over backward with a thud.  Nobody moves.  In fact, I and the ten or so men still standing around me, do our very best to ignore all our fallen comrades.  None of us dares move to help them.

 Each man is lost in his own battle against the elements.  We stand facing the biting wind in thin cotton clothes, praying that the man on the platform will decide to shut up soon so we can get in out of the cold.  Not that it makes much difference what he says; his voice is drowned out by the roar of the frigid Texas wind.  But he’s a General and he has to have his Change of Command ceremony, no matter how many men get frostbite and concussions from it.

 Why are we in light cotton uniforms?  Because the calendar hasn’t told us that it’s time to switch to winter uniforms yet.  Who cares how cold it is.  Why are we standing out here? Because the floors inside don’t have gravel on them to make that cool sound as hundreds of men march on them.  Who cares that nobody will be able to hear that sound in this wind.  Why are so many men getting injured?  Because they were ordered to stand still in the frigid wind and listen to the General.  Who cares that nobody can hear him. Why are so many men falling over? Because they are cold, dehydrated and forgot that they were not supposed to lock their knees.

If the army had not refused to move or postpone the ceremony. . . 

If the General had not refused to shorten his speech. . . 

If the men had not stood steadfastly locked in one position. . . 

 In today’s passage, Peter warns the disciples not to fall from their own steadfastness.  Now, this can be seen both ways.  The first way is when we start out steadfast and somehow begin to drift or compromise.  The clear exhortation is to remain steadfast to the things we know are true.

 The second way to see it is as steadfastness being the cause of the falling.  Like the guy who forgets to unlock his knees as we stand at attention. When the Lord addresses the people in the Old Testament for their stubborn rebellion, he calls them stiff-necked.  Paul says we should be, “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” II Corinthians 15:58   That is, we should have steadfastness to the path, but not steadfastness to growth.  Steadfast to the truth, but not to change.

 Steadfastness can be a really good trait.  Some people might call it a powerful trait.  But for all its virtues, steadfastness can be a vice.  Like on that day in the Army.  If armies are not steadfast enough to weather a little cold and wind, they will never weather a battle.  It’s good to stand your ground, but bad to lock your knees.  Bad when your standing makes you fall.

 Here’s the kicker: we tend to be exactly the wrong kind of steadfast.  We drift from the truth, but stand firmly on who we are.  That’s why the warning is given.  We must be careful that we don’t begin to believe that resolve is the same as strength, busy-ness is as valuable as relationship, learning is the same as growing, or that stubbornness is the same as faithfulness.  We must steadfastly follow, but not steadfastly stand still.  So, what kind of steadfast are you going to be today?