"...and self-control with steadfastness..."- 2 Peter 1:6 (ESV)

Steadfastness is the fourth quality with which we are called to supplement our faith. Of the seven qualities mentioned by Peter, this one is particularly intriguing to me. First, we will look at what steadfastness is. Then we will explore why we need it. Finally, we will seek to learn how to cultivate it.

What Steadfastness Is

What is steadfastness? It may be defined as resolution under pressure. Steadfastness is continued commitment despite adverse circumstances. Steadfastness is keeping going when the going gets tough.

Steadfastness is not a word used in our daily vocabulary. Perseverance is an alternate translation. Of the 31 other times this word occurs in the New Testament, Revelation 2:3 is perhaps the clearest example to give us context for what is involved in this quality. Christ commends the church at Ephesus for having perseverance (i.e., steadfastness), for having endured for his name's sake, and for not having grown weary. This verse alone gives us several related words that all revolve around the same notion.

One term that goes well with steadfastness is hardiness. I have heard people described as "hardy." To be hardy means to be made of tough stuff and to be able to persist through difficult conditions. This is what it means to be steadfast. But Peter is not describing steadfastness related to our bodies. He is describing steadfastness related to our faith.

It is fairly simple to understand what a steadfast or hardy body is. We understand that this means the body is able to withstand and fight off infection. A steadfast body is not easily injured or incapacitated despite hardship. These kinds of categories can be applied to ourselves more generally. We can be steadfast people, not easily knocked off course, not easily injured, not easily corrupted, not easily incapacitated. For Peter, a steadfast person is a person who bears up under difficult circumstances and perseveres through them, like a ship sticking to its course in the middle of a storm.

Why We Need Steadfastness

Why do we need steadfastness? If we think for a moment what it would mean to have faith that is not steadfast, the need becomes quite clear. A faith that is not steadfast is a faith that will be buffeted about by difficulties and challenges when they come. We need steadfastness for the same reason that a ship needs ballast. Without it, external pressures will cause us to reel, listing this way and that, threatening us with capsizing.

Steadfastness supplements your faith by helping to preserve it under trial; you will need steadfastness in this life because you will have trouble. Your steadfastness keeps you clinging to God’s faithfulness; it recognizes that in the storms of life it does no good to abandon ship in the middle of the storm. The only safe place is the ship that is Christ, and we are promised this one will never sink.

Of all people in the world, Christians have the most reason to be steadfast. We have a hope that cannot be shaken and an inheritance that cannot be taken. We serve a God who cannot be defeated. We are children of the Heavenly Father. We are heirs with Christ. We are empowered by the Spirit. We have unfettered access to the eternal word of God that reveals his will, his nature, and his perspective. We have been given all that we need for life and godliness.

Given the above, we should not be surprised that any Christian would show steadfastness, hardiness, or perseverance in difficult circumstances. Instead, we should be scandalized by our own lack of steadfastness.

The Scriptures are full of stories of conflict and opposition. Time and time again, God allows his people to face adverse circumstances. There is not always a clearly explained or understood reason for the circumstances. It begins with the temptation of Adam and Eve, but it continues through the lives of Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and on throughout the rest of the Scriptures. Perhaps the clearest and purest example is Job, who suffered immensely without knowing why. All the while, the reader is privy to God's perspective of Job's suffering. Amazingly, part of the reason for Job's suffering is to show that he would not crack under pressure (see Job 1-2).

How We Cultivate Steadfastness

How do we cultivate steadfastness? The biblical mechanism is clear:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. - James 1:2–4 (ESV)

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, - Romans 5:3 (ESV)

These verses show us that steadfastness is not developed in the mind only. Steadfastness is developed by exposure to pressure and difficulty. As our faith is exposed to suffering and testing, and we come through, we become more steadfast and enduring.

Is it not ironic, then, that we go to such pains to avoid suffering and testing? At times, we are even surprised by it. We tend to ask, "Why is this happening to me?" when part of the answer has been staring out from the pages of Scripture for two millennia.

We are not called to avoid trials, difficulty, and discomfort. We are called to count it all joy when they come because they help to produce steadfastness. Peter calls us to supplement our faith with steadfastness, and steadfastness is forged in the fires of affliction. Like building muscle and bone density, we need time under significant tension and load to build our ability to endure. That means that if we are going to obey this word, we must not do all we can to avoid all trials; instead, we must learn to harness them and leverage them to produce steadfastness in us.

It has been noted that the same heat that melts wax also hardens clay. If we find that we fall apart when we suffer, we need to humbly go to God and ask him to make us stronger rather than weaker through suffering. This is how we cultivate steadfastness. Without it, we will not learn to live for God through Christ. Instead, we will learn to run from pain despite Christ.