Practicing Perseverance: How Writing Helps Us Grow in Christlike Character
Writing involves more than crafting words—it’s a vehicle to becoming crafted. God often uses our creative work to shape our character, chiseling away impatience and building endurance one small act of faithfulness at a time.
One of the character traits He grows in us through writing is perseverance. Whether we’re wrestling through a book draft, promoting a launch that feels like it’s going nowhere, or recovering from yet another “no” from a publisher, each moment offers a chance to keep going with His strength rather than our own. Writing becomes a workshop for the soul—a place where perseverance is both practiced and produced.
Everyday life offers us plenty of opportunities to practice endurance and perseverance, but so does writing. Goals such as growing a platform, writing a book, finding an agent or publisher, and selling the book once you’ve published it are all things that don’t come easily. Those who succeed are those who don’t give up.
If I’m honest, this doesn’t come easily to me. If something doesn’t work quickly and effortlessly, I’m likely to throw in the towel and try something different.
That lead magnet that didn’t get me 100s of new subscribers the first week I promoted it? Forget it! Let me make a new one. Writing my book ceased to be fun after the second chapter? Maybe writing isn’t my thing after all. I only sold 2 copies in my pre-launch or at my book signing event? Time to move on. So many times, starting something new and exciting is much more interesting and motivating than following through with what we already started. Our modern culture, which has trained us to have minuscule attention spans and instant gratification, certainly doesn’t help.
But if we want to grow in Christlike character, developing perseverance is part of the lesson plan.
What does the Bible have to say about perseverance?
Galatians 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up".
2 Thessalonians 3:13 "As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good"
Colossians 1:11 (the middle of the Apostle Paul’s prayer for the Colossian church) “… being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy…”
Now, these verses and others primarily talk about endurance in suffering for Christ. I’m not at all suggesting that receiving a “no” from an agent or publisher is anywhere comparable to suffering for Jesus. However, we learn endurance for the “big things” by practicing it with the “not so big things”. If we hope to endure and persevere through life’s trials and difficulties, we can first cooperate with God as He grows us through things like pushing through our overwhelm with learning new tech, or courageously working on the next portion of our book proposal.
Trust God or Try Harder?
One aspect of spiritual formation that I find mysterious is understanding our role versus God’s role in the process. Do I try harder to persevere? Or do I abide in Christ so that He can develop perseverance in me?
I think the answer is “yes”. If we have trusted Christ as our Savior, then the Holy Spirit dwells in us, giving us the power to persevere. Our job is to abide in Christ (John 15:5). However, I don’t think that “abiding” necessarily implies inactivity. I abide in my house, but that doesn’t mean that I just sit on the couch and exist. I cook, clean, write podcast episodes, fix the leaky faucet, and fold laundry. Similarly, I don’t think that we pray for perseverance, or any other fruit of the Spirit, and then expect God to infuse it into us with no effort needed on our part. Frequently, when we pray for traits like patience or endurance, God answers by giving us opportunities to practice those qualities and grow in them. He doesn’t simply download those characteristics into our lives. I believe it’s a cooperative effort - He empowers us as we practice.
How to Practice Perseverance
So how does one practice perseverance? Start by finding an area of your writing life where you seem to lack this character quality. What specifically makes you toss up your hands and give up? Did you just hear a “no” about an article or something else writing-related? Instead of throwing in the towel, take one step toward resubmitting your piece elsewhere, or knock on one other door. Move one step farther down the path when you’re tempted to stop.
Can you write 200 more words when you’d really rather stop? Wrestle with the point you want to communicate for 10 more minutes to see if you can gain clarity?
You can practice in non-writing ways as well. If you exercise regularly, how can you go one degree further than you might have? Jog a quarter mile more. Complete one more rep. Add one more higher weight.
Maybe you invite that coworker to church one more time, or pursue reconciliation yet again for that difficult relationship.
When we try to do big things on a grand scale, we’re much more likely to fail. Battles are won one step at a time as we inch forward in the right direction.
The flip side of this idea is that sometimes giving up and letting go is the right thing to do. If you have honed that book proposal and submitted it to every appropriate agent you know of, it could be time to move on. How do we determine that point? The answer will be different for every person in every circumstance, but trust that you’ll know. In my interview with Benjamin Vrbicek in podcast episode 63, he talked about working to the point of failure. He also made the connection to exercise. We gain the most benefit when we increase our weight and reps until we are literally unable to accomplish the exercise. It’s pretty clear when we reach that point! If we give up before that, we lose out on all that we could gain.
I spoke with a fellow author recently about her “graveyard of book proposals”. I asked her how she knew it was time to give up one. She said that when there was nowhere else to pitch it, the time had come to let it go and move on.
What small steps of perseverance and endurance can you take in your writing today? This week? How can you stretch that muscle to increase your ability to keep going when things are tough? Let me know! Share in the comments what one small step of perseverance you’re taking to grow more like Jesus.
If you’d like to learn more about the faulty, unbiblical mindsets that Christian writers wrestle with, take a look at the “Christian Writers’ Mindset Makeover”. You’ll learn about the grain of truth that hides in each mindset and how that truth gets twisted into a lie. I also provide the antidote for that lie and journaling prompts to help you sort through how it may be holding you back.