day no. 16,505: the annual Van Voorst family poem(s) for 2023

New Years Eve Poem, 2019

by Penelope Page Van Voorst

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This year was a banger, in more ways than one: 

The brothers got cocky with new airsoft-guns;

Mom grew a baby and Dad grew a beard,

While kids just existed for another full year. 

The government’s crazy (so what else is new?)

And our entire congregation came down with the flu.

To start this adventure, we’ll focus on Dad:

He read heaps of books, which we all could have guessed.

He went on walks even when weather was bad

And came home with more books checked off of his list.

Mom also existed for one entire year,

And she didn’t give up! (At least, not frequently.)

She kept house in order despite childrens’ games,

And cooked all our meals deliciously.

Atticus grew taller and his voice went down south. 

(It came back more mature than it had left).

He got obsessed with movies and guns and food

And hot sauce is still his best friend.

Well, I didn’t die, so I’ll call it a win!

I learned how to knit and wrote stories galore.

I learned how to survive the airsoft range

And knitted and wrote even more.

Finneas……is Finneas. And can I say more?

It's been eleven years with no change. 

He still has an outrageously fun sense of fun,

And his new favorite joke is called “pain”.

Laurelai decided that short was still cool

And grew nary an inch!

She still loves unicorns and everything pink

But she’ll sometimes wear blue….in a cinch.

Rocco resolved to serve Finneas forever.

This news we should have foreseen.

The two of them wrestle, dance, and get hurt, 

And watch Home Alone on repeat.

Callista grew taller but her hair isn’t longer:

She now has two dogs that she cuddles.

She likes to watch movies and BE OUTSIDE,

Then she comes in, and gives her dogs snuggles.

Juniper loves to fix Mommy at night,

And her prayers are piecemeal of ours.

She enjoys wanting things (even if they fall through)

And talks about Santa for hours.

Ophelia learned the awesome word “No!”

And now she can’t help but to quote it. 

She used to love Lambkins and then she got Baby.

And Lampkins? Well, he’s been demoted.

Well that is our family in 2023!

Who knows what the new year will bring?

A baby at least, and maybe more feasts,

And many more songs we can sing!

So now we raise our glass with cheer,

‘Cause 2023’s been an excellent year!

New Year’s Eve Poem

Van Voorst Family Year in Review

December 31, 2023

…

Tonight, we are gathered to review God’s blessings

In gratitude giving our thanks and confessing

That life is much better than any deserves

As God, our Father, provides and preserves

So, let’s take a moment to pause and to praise

The bounty of blessings and length of our days

The number of people surrounding our table

This privileged fam who lives life like a fable

First there is me, I’m the one you call, “Dad”

Except for your mom, that’d be weird, don’t do that!

I still work for Shelter but work from our home

My beard’s a bit longer and so is this poem

I smoke a cigar and sometimes a pipe

I blog and I post militantly online

I go out for walks and listen to talks

I fast until five and keep you folk alive.

Then there’s Paige, she’s the one you call, “Mom”

She works hard to keep you all healthy and strong

She cooks all your dinners, corrects all you sinners,

And buys all the clothes that you lose every winter.

With her you have watched All Creatures Great and Small

Counted your fingers and learned to can broth

Learned to read and write out your thoughts

One of which should what a great mom God brought

Then there is Atticus, he’s the one we call, “Add”

Many people look up to him ‘cause he’s taller than dad

He loves to draw comics of Skeeters at war

And likes to drink beer with a Churchill cigar

He loves to shoot guns and is a naturally good shot

And Trouble’s the first one he built has bought

He eats and he eats; then eats more for dessert

He’s 15 years old, but eats 50 years worth

Next there’s Penelope, she’s the one we call, “Nen”

Lydia Spratt is her very best friend

She writes lots of stories and plays lots of songs

She is a good sister and a miniature mom

She drinks her eggs, but eats her butter

Avoids her sweets to help her gutter

She super at scoochin’ and dabs like a boss

And still finds the time to pretend she’s a horse.

 

Next there is Finneas, he’s the one we call, “Finn”

If someone is fighting, it’s Finn who will win

He’s funny and loud and quick on his toes

He likes to eat chili til it comes out his nose

He hates to be tickled, but loves to be tackled

He wrestles his loved ones and breaks out of shackles

He is full of fire which is warm for his friends

But is flames for his foes who will soon meet their end

Next there is Laurelai, she’s the one we call. “Lolo”

She’s tiny and tough, but not one to roll solo

She likes having others around when she plays

But also likes alone time on the toilet most days

She likes baking cookies and working on crafts

She likes fancy cheeses and doing her math

She loves milk by the gallon and yarn by the yard

She like praying for others and writing them cards

Then there is Rocco, he’s the one we call, “Rock”

He likes Urban Camo and mismatching socks

He loves all his siblings, but Finn is his twin

If their shirts do not match, he changes again

He has six pack abs and a head that is hard

But soft is his heart when he’s smashed in the yard

He likes coffee at church and a hug before bed

And hanging on my arms until they are dead

Next there is Callista, she’s the one we call, “Lissy”

But I call her “Louie” or sometimes, “Lil’ missy”

She loves her dog, Trixie, and “fixing” her mom

She likes drawing people and chewing her gum

She plays the piano and knows “Smoke on the Water”

She is a good sister and a beautiful daughter

She likes holding Oey and helping fold clothes

She is a good eater and makes sure everyone knows

Then there is Juniper, she’s the one we call, “Juni”

She’s nothing if not the president of zucchini

The only thing second to it if you ask her

Is her loving devotion to her best friend, Santa!

She’s funny and bold and a beautiful lady

She’s likes eating snack and she likes to act crazy

She loves to give hugs and she loses her glasses

She wears Lissy’s pants, but stretches out their… backs

Lastly, there’s Ophelia, she’s the one we call, “Oey”

She was born at a time of the year when it’s snowy

She’s full of smiles, but fuller of teeth

She’s our little baby shark who likes to eat beef

She loves to take naps and she sucks on her sheets

She loves to dance as she bops to the beat

She says, “pizza” and “pips” when she’s hungry for food

And she’s happy and chatty ‘cept when she’s in a mood

Next year there’ll be another, it’s the one we call, “Baby”

And by then we’ll have picked out a name for them… maybe?

Perhaps it’s a girl or perhaps it’s a boy

Either way, we’ll be happy to receive them with joy.

While Lolo and Lissy are praying for twins

We all will find out if a boy or girl wins

We’re taking a chance and leaving it a surprise

So we’ll know for the first time when we see with our eyes.

This year was a blast and the soundtrack was great

Weezer was an early favorite, Valley of Wolves came late

We found Poor Man’s Poison and learned more by Shinedown

And added more tunes to our dinner-time ho-downs

We finished our first trip through The Lord of the Rings

We read Chesterton poetry and memorized kings

We read Kill the Dragon and you listened to Laura

We were cautioned by Belloc and went back to Narnia

We watched Kentucky Ballistics and his pall John Lovell

I killed a black snake with the point of a shovel

We watched Kill the Dragon and the Lord of the Rings

The Babylon Bee kept us laughing at things

We began watching Wade and his weekly news show

We hung Christmas lights as the streets piled with snow

We began family table as Buddy Brown suggested

We listened to “Rice… it’s so nice” as our food digested

So here’s to the year and to many more like it

So raise up your cups and your spirits just like it

By this time next year, in a brand new December

We’ll have more things to praise and new things to remember 

We’ll have more things to list and more grace to applaud

More memories, more bliss, and more blessings from God

To be a Van Voorst is, of course, a delight

And to be full of joy is to join in the fight

For this feasting's a foretaste of where we are going

A land rich with milk and with honey overflowing

So tonight we say, “thank You” and look forward to more

And tonight we say, “cheers!” like we’ve been here before.

and Amen.

day no. 16,504: friction is a given

Isaiah 42:25

Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

Adversity is unavoidable.

So, what will you be adverse to?

And what will be adverse to you?

As saints, we experience adversity from other sinners.

As sinners, we experience adversity from God's Sovereignty.

Enmity is inescapable.

So, what will you be at war with?

And what will be at war with you?

Who will be your enemies?

And who will count you one of theirs?

That is to say, one way or another, we are always at war!

Friction is a given.

So, what will you resist?

And where will the friction come from?

Galatians 5:17

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

There will always be heat. Either we will be under fire from without or fighting fires that are within. We may get burned by someone else or burned by our desires, but either way there will be fire. The flesh and the Spirit are at war. Those led by the Spirit will be at war with those led by the flesh and the parts of you still led by the flesh will be at war with the Spirit within you.

Friction is non-fiction and literal, not simply figurative. It is biographical and biological. In other words, friction is for real.

day no. 16,503: being bad in order to become bad ass

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.

If you want to be good at something, you must be willing to be bad at it. And the more you want to be good at something, the worse you will likely be at it before you're any good at it. Your taste will often exceed your talent. 

If you want to play the man, you have to be willing to be bad at it. But the only way to become a man is to play at it. You must do what a man would do, even if you don't do it very well.

“If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” -- G.K. Chesterton

Initiative and humility are the necessary ingredients of masculinity. If you do not take the initiative, you cannot grow. If you are not willing to look silly, you will not grow. Only when you want something badly enough to be bad it will you ever be any good at it.

Being a man, then in short, comes down to being bold enough to be bad at things in order to develop the skills of a bad ass. If you’re an ass about being bad, you won’t get better, but you’ll still be an ass. But if you humbly endure the difficulties of falling short of glory while still striving for it, you will wear the glory of God better.

Philippians 3:12-17

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

day no. 16,502: do not live on a chronological island

“If you’re planning for one year, grow rice.

If you’re planning for ten years, grow trees.

If you’re planning for centuries, grow men.”

— Confucius

Sow short-sightedness and reap short-term returns; sow to the long-game and reap the long-term benefits. Cultures wars are not won in a moment. They are not resolved within a generation; they are won by winning the next generation. Decisive victories within a generation pave the way for future advance, but without a future to hand them off to, they are merely token victories which are erased as they evaporate.

If you have a vision for growing the circumference, you begin with the diameter. You begin with the end in mind. You push the boundaries out by growing out from the center.

The future will be inhabited by someone. The worldviews of tomorrow are being cultivated today. The world has embraced this eschatology which is why they are so adamant about their control of the education of young children. They simply assume the kids belong to them because they already presuppose the future belongs to their ideologies.

The world may need rice and trees, but it needs men to eat the rice and climb the trees even more.

Do not live on a chronological island. You come from a people and peoples will come from you. Do not live as though you will not have great grandchildren. Do not live as one who has forgotten that he has great grandfathers. 

day no. 16,501: lion claws and bear hugs

"If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, if we may be hugged to death by the bear, the devil little cares which it is, so long as he destroys our love to Christ, and our confidence in Him.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening 

The serpent is equally satisfied by scorn and assassination as he is with seduction and assimilation. He doesn't care if its teeth or treacle; as long as it ends with your faith dead or deadened. Whether you are ripped apart by rage monsters or smothered to death by smooth talkers makes no difference to him so long as it ends with you and your faith suffocated. It could be the chaos of this world bearing down on you or the concerns of this world welling up inside you. Whatever distracts you from faith in Christ works for him.

Matthew 13:5-7

Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

Satan will use any weapon that works — whether scorched down by heat from outside or choked up by anxieties from within, he rejoices in the dead ends of either.

day no. 16,500: covenants are conveyed

“One of the great failures of North American evangelicalism is this. We have not communicated a scriptural and covenantal identity to our children and grandchildren. We have not learned how to function as a people. There are millions of us, but we have all the structural solidity of a heap of sand.” — Douglas Wilson, Resolved:Paedocommunion Consistently Expresses Christ’s Purposes in Giving Us the Sacraments

God has commanded us to teach our children to teach their children.

Deuteronomy 6:1-2

Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

Parents are responsible for teaching their grandchildren. They do this by teaching their children to teach their children. They show them how to do it by doing it for them and they tell them what to teach by teaching it to them.

Christian assiduity is a fixed given. Covenants are conveyed. All of Christ for all of life is not just for coffee cups and pinterest. It is an actual top to bottom, front to back way of living your life by faith and to faith. Our kids need the catechism of life and practice.

1 Timothy 4:16

Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

Next to our own souls, the souls of those born into our family should be of increased concern. We should want those who hear us most often to hear the Gospel and see our faith in actively believing it in how we handle ourselves.

This doesn't require us to be perfect. It requires us to love perfection. It doesn't mean simply conforming to a standard, but loving a standard and pursuing it as much as we fall short of it.

1 Timothy 4:15

Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.

Those who know you the best will see you fail the most. So, how will you fail? In faith? Will you demonstrate faith in the Gospel through repentance and belief? Will you let them see your failures or will you fail to be transparent? Will you hide your sins for the sake of setting a better example? If you do, you only pass along your distrust in the Gospel. You teach that sins must be hidden somewhere other than Jesus in order to be effective in this world. Let your profiting appear to everyone as they watch you fall, get up, grow, and mature in Christlikeness.

Cultures are not built by accident. They are caught and taught, but cannot be bought. There is no off the rack option when it comes to culture. There is no Designer knock off. There is only good, ol' fashioned, hard, Christian work.

So, that said; Do the work, Christian.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

day no. 16,499: fathers are conscripted to the service of the King

Isaiah 38:19

The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

Fathers are conscripted to the service of the King. Their charge? Communicate the truth of the living God to their children. Children are born into their father's kingdom that he may lead them into the great Kingdom of Christ. Heads of families have been ordered by the Head of all families to introduce their little flock to the Great Shepherd.

Ephesians 3:14-15

I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.

Every family is organized by last name under the Name above all other names. The heads of household are charged to remind their children that the buck stops above them and that Christian children have two fathers, one in Heaven and one across the hall.

day no. 16,498: the urgent call for Christian cussedness; a.k.a. being a better byword

Christians are called all kinds of names. In fact, even the name "Christian" was itself a name the disciples of Jesus were once called by others.

Acts 11:26

And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

Jesus predicted this peculiar brand of blessing.

Matthew 5:11-12

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

That said, Christians can be cursed by unbelievers for better reasons than others. It isn't enough to call yourself blessed merely because a pagan calls you an expletive. The key is the "for My sake" part. If you are cursed for conduct unbecoming of Christ, the shade thrown at you is not earning eternal glory for you.

In other words, to be a Christian, you must be called names, but the accusations must not stick.

Zechariah 8:13

And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong. 

Christians who conduct themselves entirely in light of His commandments will be called names by pagans. Being a model Christian will get you cancelled, Karened, or God forbid, both.

So, Christians will, one way or another, be bywords. The question isn't IF, but WHICH and WHY?

Christians need to stop trying to impress people who hate them.

A young girl cannot successfully win a young man over to the merits of modesty by showing him her goods in private. 

It is high time we became better bywords.

Job 30:8-10

I am their byword. They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

The drag queens and child molesters may throw shade at you for your beliefs, but you're in better company if you're on the other side of whoever they consider to be their allies. If ever an ally was an axis of evil, that would be it.

In summary, the world despised Jesus and tried to dispense with Him in the most violent of fashions. Yet, He rose above their shade. He is the light of the world and casts no shadow. You cannot toss darkness at the sun and succeed.

So, cheer up, Christian. You were born to be a byword in such a time as this. You will be called cranky or be accused of cussedness, but being considered a contrarion to their clique keeps you in a good company. So, keep up the good work of being called bad words by the bad guys.

day no. 16,497: domi, dominus, dominion

Psalm 128

Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD. The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.

Dominion begins at home. It begins by hitting as close to home as anything can, striking to the very heart of the man. If he fears the Lord, he can walk without fear anywhere. He will reap the joy of the faith he sows. And he will be happy. And so will his wife and his children.

Dominus is Latin for "Lord." Dominion is spreading the lordship of the Lord. It is pushing the lordship of Christ into each and every corner. Domi is latin for "at home." Dominion, then, literally begins at home, but it never ends there.

Psalm 127

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Your grandsons will be raised according to how you raised your sons and daughters. Your daughters are future mothers and your grandsons will get a good deal of their education and training from her. 

Christendom is Christian dominion. It is participating in Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven. It begins in the home as a blueprint and then seeks to domesticate the wild world outside to be more in concert with the Christian home. 

day no. 16,496: be strong; fear not

Isaiah 35:3-4

Strengthen ye the weak hands,

and confirm the feeble knees.

Say to them that are of a fearful heart,

Be strong, fear not:

behold, your God will come with vengeance,

even God with a recompence;

He will come and save you.

Weak hands can be strengthened and feeble knees can be confirmed.

Fearful hearts can be encouraged and the distressed can find assurance.

Just desserts will be served as the justified look on. Those who make room for the wrath of God will see it act on their behalf. Those who leave vengeance to Him will see Him take it up.

Fear not anything else you who fear the Lord.

Be strong you whose joy is the Lord.

Repentant sinners will be saved.

Unrepentant ones will not prevail.

Hear the Word of the Lord,

"Be strong. Fear not."

day no. 16,495: stop buying cheap crap from people who hate you

Isaiah 55:2-3

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

Stop buying that which isn’t bread from those who openly pedal poison.

Stop buying cheap crap from people who hate you.

Worship the Lord with your work and your wealth.

Support Christendom with your projects and your purchases.

day no. 16,494: the floods that wash away whole worlds are not enough for God to wade in

Psalm 29:10

The LORD sitteth upon the flood;

yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.

The floods that wash away whole worlds are not deep enough for God to wade in. He sits upon the flood. He hovers above it, unphased by its current. It cannot sweep Him up, or away. It is not deep enough for Him to soak His toes, not even roast beef or wee-wee-wee all the way home.

The Lord is King for ever. He sits in His throne. His throne and His place on it are established. They are indomitable facts. He cannot be unseated and His seat cannot be undermined. Nothing can shake what He has fixed and nothing can hold on to whatever He shakes lose. 

The Lord sat down after saying, "It is finished!" His work is perfect and complete and incorruptible.

Psalm 110:1

The LORD said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,

Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

There He sits now as His enemies assemble like an ottoman. The floods that so disrupt our lives are but puddles over which He presides.

The Lord sitteth as King for ever. The floods are at His beck and call. Let us call upon Him.

day no. 16,493: force and fervor; decision and devotion; valor and vehemence

And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. —  Exodus 17:12

“So mighty was the prayer of Moses, that all depended upon it. The petitions of Moses discomfited the enemy more than the fighting of Joshua. Yet both were needed. So, in the soul's conflict, force and fervour, decision and devotion, valour and vehemence, must join their forces, and all will be well.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening 

Moses prayed while Joshua fought. Moses fought on the plains of faith and Joshua preyed on the fields of battle. Moses and Joshua were equally engaged in kingdom work. Moses by his prayer fought and Joshua by his fighting prayed. Joshua by his fighting demonstrated his faith. Moses in his prayer demonstrated his. Joshua trusted in the prayer of Moses. Moses trusted in the fighting of Joshua. Joshua did not set down his sword to pray. Moses did not lower his arms to grab a sword. Joshua left Moses to pray and Moses left the fighting to Joshua. Both were required. Both played the man at their posts and the battle was won.

“It is far easier to fight with sin in public, than to pray against it in private. It is remarked that Joshua never grew weary in the fighting, but Moses did grow weary in the praying; the more spiritual an exercise, the more difficult it is for flesh and blood to maintain it.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

The prayers of Moses strengthened Joshua in his fighting and the fighting of Joshua encouraged Moses in his praying, but Moses strength was sapped. Spiritual battles require Spiritual replenishment just as physical battles requires physical restoration. All battles leave their wounds. Physical battles are accompanied by physical wounds; spiritual battles by spiritual ones.

In Christ, there is a balm in Gilead that can heal all wounds, but not all scars. Just as physical wounds may leave scars of battles fought and survived, so spiritual wounds may leave their marks on a man. But just as physical scars are trophies of past victories, so spiritual scars may prove to be trophies for those who persevered past struggles by staying close to Christ.

day no. 16,492: a weapon which knows no defeat

"It is written, ‘They overcame through the blood of the Lamb.’ How could they do otherwise? He who fights with the precious blood of Jesus, fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat. The blood of Jesus! sin dies at its presence, death ceases to be death: heaven's gates are opened. The blood of Jesus! we shall march on, conquering and to conquer, so long as we can trust its power!” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

The blood of Jesus is a weapon which knows no defeat. It cannot be conquered. It is the victory of defeat. You cannot overcome the One who came out of being overcome. Christ was crucified, dead, and buried and yet here He stands. What can man do to Him? His blood was shed and shot up as salvation. He is indomitable. You cannot defeat Him. He has survived defeat and left it in the tomb. The death of Jesus was the defeat of defeat. There is nothing left. He destroyed destruction. He overcame being overcome. He overwhelmed being overwhelmed. He made a conquest of being conquered. 

In Christ, by His Spirit, through His blood, we overcome. We march on, conquering and to conquer. We have been conquered by Christ. He has overcome us. We are His conquest and in His Name we in like manner are called to conquer.

By all hell's host withstood,

We all hell's host o'erthrow;

And conquering them

Through Jesus' blood,

We still to conquer go

— Charles Wesley,

Angels Your March Oppose

day no. 16,491: medievalism is the novelty of vetting novelty

On a Vulgar Error

by C.S. Lewis

No. It's an impudent falsehood.  Men did not 

Invariably think the newer way Prosaic

mad, inelegant, or what not.

Was the first pointed arch esteemed a blot 

Upon the church? Did anybody say How 

modern and how ugly? They did not.

Plate-armour, or windows glazed, or verse fire-hot 

With rhymes from France, or spices from Cathay, 

Were these at first a horror? They were not.

If, then, our present arts, laws, houses, food 

All set us hankering after yesterday, 

Need this be only an archaising mood?

Why, any man whose purse has been let blood 

By sharpers, when he finds all drained away 

Must compare how he stands with how he stood.

If a quack doctor's breezy ineptitude 

Has cost me a leg, must I forget straightway 

All that I can't do now, all that I could?

So, when our guides unanimously decry 

The backward glance, I think we can guess why.

Modernity is possessed by progress. So much so, it despises history. The future is the heaven it can never obtain and the past is all its failed attempts to get there. Modernity hates tradition and worships novelty. "Next" and "new" are the word and sacrament of advance.

The Medieval mindset, by contrast, encourages looking back in order to better look around. The Medieval mind compares "now" to "before" in order to compare and contrast advantages and difficulties. It thinks in terms of trade-offs, while Modernity considers only solutions. Modernity is blind to the side effects of progress and thus is continually obsessed with fixing the unforeseen problems caused by previous foolproof solutions.

The Medieval mindset does not reject advance, but insists on assessing it -- testing all things, keeping the good and tossing the bad. The Medieval mindset is one of adoption by evaluation whereas Modernity calls for revolution by abandonment.

The Medieval mind is centered upon accepting Christ, not in rejecting Modernity. The Medieval mindset would not resist the phone or the internet simply as "new" technologies. It wouldn't welcome or refuse them solely for the sake of their newness, but neither would it necessarily fawn over them for their novelty. The heart of the Medieval worldview dwelt pondering within the Church, not rejecting anything invented outside of it.

Medievalism is the novelty of vetting novelty. Modernity is the tedium of tossing tradition and the monotony of obsessing over obscurities. Medievalism is the originality of rejecting some originals while Modernity is the predictability of infatuation with innovation.

Modernity is a vaccination against tradition. It pits artificial against beneficial and prefers unique over ubiquitous. Medievalism is inherited immunity. It considers utility without forgetting vanity. It prefers well-worn assiduity to fresh-baked fixation. It curates continuity instead of manufacturing monotony.

day no. 16,490: do not apologize for that which deserves your applause

Numbers 30:13

Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.

Husbands can nullify the covenants of their wives. In other words, covenant heads can annul the commitments of their wards. A covenant head can void the covenant of one for whom he is covenantally responsible.

Patriarchy is not incidental to the Old Testament. It is NOT an old, outdated embarrassment or blemish on the Christian faith. It is, in fact, essential to the Good News of God in Christ.

Isaiah 28:18

And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

If we could give ourselves away, we would still be in our sins. Our contract with death would stand and we would be destined to die. But thanks be to God, a federal head can nullify our commitments. We cannot give ourselves away. We need someone to walk us down the aisle and sign off on the transfer. If that someone does not or will not, any commitments we have made can be unmade and annihilated as though they never stood.

While the federal headship of Adam may have broken everything, the federal headship of the Second Adam is our only hope of getting out of it in tact.

Masculinity takes responsibility; It is the glory of the man to step between the danger and his beloved. It is his honor to protect those under his care. Even when the danger is imposed by his beloved's decisions. It is the fame of a father to take on himself the consequences of his children's choices in order to rescue them from themselves (e.g. God's commendation of Job).

Doctrines we can be tempted to find repulsive (headship, representative government a la Adam, patriarchy, etc...) when abandoned also leave behind the strength and weight of the Gospel which is God acting on our behalf as our head and saving us from ourselves.

Do not apologize for the presence of patriarchy; rather, applaud it. Do not apologize for that which deserves your gratitude. The glory of God in Christ is manifested in breaking our covenant with sin and death without us completing the proper paperwork. He did not leave us to let live, for to us that would have been our death. He interfered by letting Himself die. He removed our promises to death from our mouths and eliminated our vows to death from our hearts.

He did not ask our permission. 

He secured our salvation.

He acted on our behalf to undo our deal with death.

Thanks be to God!

day no. 16,489: ophelia is TWO

Ophelia Belle, you are TWO today! Happy birthday.

You are so much fun. You love to dance and wiggle your shoulders. You love to show off your teeth. You love to open your big eyes as wide as they can go. You like to laugh. You are just a blast.

You are our baby shark. You have all the teeth and you know it... and you show it.

You love your milk and you love your cheese. And you like saying, "cheese," when a camera is pointed in your direction.

You like saying, "Hello!" It's your favorite word. You say, "Hi!" and "Hello!" like you mean it... which you do! 

You also like saying your own name, except you often stop short and get stuck singing the Wizard of Oz, flying monkey chant of, "O-E-O... Whoa-O." It is adorable.

You still walk a bit like a capuchin with your arms bent into your ribs instead of akimbo. You have figured out how to navigate the stairs and are enjoying your new found freedom by messing up all of your mom's bookshelves.

You have more eyeball than you have hair. I'm sure the hair will catch up, but your eyes have a great head start.

You love having your feeties rubbed by mom.

You like to suck on your sheets while you sleep and often wake up a very cheerful, yet very hot mess. You also have recently acquired the joy of jumping on your bed. You look like Family Force 5 in the BZRK video bouncing away. It is very cute.

You are a fan favorite and we love so much. I'm so glad God gave you to us.

Happy 2nd birthday, OE Biscuits!

Love, 

Dad

day no. 16,488: resurrection, generations and regeneration

"A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants." — Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay

Every generation is a regeneration.

Every propagation is a resurrection.

Every tree is great grand child of another of its kind and a great grandfather of many of its kind yet to come. Every tree you've ever climbed stands is the offspring of another tree and was once merely no more than a seed you could walk over. Every weeping willow had grandparents who wailed and every mighty oak had ancestors upon whose shoulders it stands.

Every pet is great grand child of another of its kind and a great grandfather of many of its kind yet to come. Every dog that has ever played fetch is a great grandchild of one who barked. Every terrier has inherited traditions from its remote ancestors. Every hound has a heritage and will likely leave a legacy.

Every word is great grand child of another of its kind and a great grandfather of many of its kind yet to come. Every word we speak is the offspring of other words. Every word we use now will likely give birth to generations and permutations of words yet to be spoken.

In the beginning, was the Word of God and it spoke into existence other words. Since then those spoken words have learned to speak. The words we use now are the grandchildren of older languages and the ancestors of future verbiage.

The power and principle of resurrection and generations is always at work around us. We are surrounded by reminders that what is comes from what was and that which will be comes from what is.

day no. 16,487: the sword, the keys, and the rod

Q: What governments have been established directly by God?

A: God has established the responsibility of self-government in every individual, and family government, church government, and civil government in society.

— Toby Sumpter, A Catechism on the Governments: 50 Questions & Answers

Every form of human governance given to us by God has a corresponding symbol associated with it. For the civil magistrate, it is the sword (Romans 13:4). For the church, it is the keys (Matt 26:19). For the family, it is the rod (Pr. 13:24, 22:15). The State can wield the sword to execute, the church can withhold access to the table to excommunicate, and the family can discipline or disinherit according to the age of the member and the extent of the offense.

However, none of these agencies are independent of God. None of them are free to set their own standards. Their jurisdictions and administrations have been prescribed to them by God.

So, the sword must be swung by a particular standard, not just willy-nilly at whomever happens to irritate the one wielding it. The State does not set the standard for what offenses deserve the sword, God has already determined that. He has merely handed the sword to the State and given them authority to execute His will. The State must also not refuse to swing the sword where God has said. It is not within their authority to applaud violence or condemn peace.It cannot be in good faith by beheading the righteous and protecting the wretched. God sees and judges the judges who do so.

Likewise, the doors to the kingdom of Christ must not be locked according to the moods of the doorkeepers. Doors must have locks, but they must not lock anyone out arbitrarily. The standard for discipline and excommunication is not according to the preferences of the elders, but according to the Word of God.

Lastly, wills should not be written or edited by mere favoritism. Children should not be excluded from inheritances unless they break covenant. Children should not be disciplined according to the whims of their parents, but according to the Word of the Lord. Likewise, they should not be disinherited according to the peculiar tastes of the parent, but only according to the commandments of God.

Spanks must only be administered according to sins defined by Scripture and last wills and testaments must only written and enforced according to the Word of God contained in the Old and New testaments.

day no. 16,486: patriarchy is not a necessary evil; it is a necessary good

“God made Adam Eve’s head before the Fall (1 Tim. 2:11-13). Thus, God provided human leadership even in a perfect world with perfect people. A necessary implication of such perfect governance is that human governance is not a necessary evil; it is a necessary good.” — Ryan M. McGraw and Ryan Speck, Is Church Membership Biblical

Patriarchy is not a necessary evil; it is a necessary good. 

1 Timothy 2:11-13

Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

God did not mistakenly make the world. Its order was not happenstance or slapdashed. He is a God of order, not chaos (1 Cor. 14:33). He did not inject insanity into the mix. The created order was good reflecting the goodness of its Maker and considered in its entirety is very good (Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31)

1 Corinthians 11:3

The head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Hierarchy is inescapable. God's order of creation was not accidental. It was not eenie-meenie-miney man. It was man first from the dirt and woman next from his rib.

1 Corinthians 11:8-10

For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.

Man was not made for the woman;

woman was made for the man.

Man was not made from the woman;

woman was made from the man.

Man was made under the authority of God; woman was made under the authority of her husband who was under the authority of God.

The story of sin is the story of insubordination. Angels leaving their assigned stations led to rebellion, sin, demons, hell, and Satan. Later, those same angels abandoning other orders of creation led to the Nephilim, Noah, the flood, and the the destruction of every breathing thing on earth save eight souls and those with them on their boat.

Order is a necessary good and God has declared which came first: the chicken, then the egg.

day no. 16,485: supplements and complements

“The communion of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is fellowship that accepts no supplement and requires no complement.” — Ryan M. McGraw and Ryan Speck, Is Church Membership Biblical

The Triune God is in need of nothing. He compels no improvement and suffers no complement. He is not a key in need of a lock or a seal in search of wax. He is complete and in need of nothing outside of Himself. He is eternally content.

day no. 16,484: classwombs and consternation camps

Ephesians 6:4

Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Christian fathers can incur the wrath of their children by pawning them off to godless authorities. Fathers are commanded by God to nurture and admonish their own children. If they delegate the mental/spiritual well-being of their children to government education eight hours a day, five days a week, nine months of the year, they will find their windows for nurture and admonition relatively small by comparison. 

Christians must do everything in their power to get their kids out of government schools. State education is openly hostile to Christianity and to the government of the family as established by God. Civil government is jealous of every other form of government: self, family, and church.

Government schools are, in some respects, voluntary concentration camps. Instead of having your children wrenched from your hands by the gestapo, parents play the vichy and voluntarily send beloved little ones into the hands of harm's way.

Government education is like a consternation camp for Christian kids. A Christian child is confounded by the combination of (1) looking to obey and (2) the looks of those overseeing their classrooms. This elixir can only produce frustration. To have your beliefs ignored or mocked all day while having views you adamantly oppose enforced under examination is a recipe for disaster. It sounds like a bad summer camp where instead of going away for a week in the summer, you go away for eight hours a day for nine to ten months. Christian kids, if they survive as Christians, can say that they've served their nickels and dimes in the government clink, but they can't thank their parents for imprisoning there or the scars their stint in the State pen produced. The end goal of a Christian kid in that kind of schooling is nothing short of liberation. Good grades are nothing compared to getting out. That is, unless the kid is converted to Caesarism and goes in for what they call good and striving to receive a 4.0 in heathenism.

The public school calendar is like a secular pregnancy. Since they can’t or won't have kids of their own, they co-opt yours and nourish them in their classwombs for nine months before releasing them to a lifetime of State-provided breastfeeding and co-dependence.

day no. 16,483: TULIP time!

TOTAL DEPRAVITY

Total depravity is not the belief that everything is as bad it could be, but that nothing is as good as it should be. 

Total depravity does not insist that there is no good in anything, but that there is a bit of bad in everything.

Isaiah 64:6

We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Christianity is not unique among world religions in insisting that sin exists, it is unique in insisting that even our very best is still sinful. Our righteousness is ridiculous. Our cleanest living is corrupted.

We should not be surprised to discover that our best efforts are merely filthy rags, but that our rags contain any good in them at all. The shock should not be in realizing that God sees our best as offensive, but in realizing that He looks for good even in our offenses.

Philippians 3:7-9

What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

All that to say, we should not be shocked to discover how much shit God puts up with, but how much good He is willing to find in so much shit.

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good... We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it." ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Only those who love and pursue the standard can see how far short of it they fall.

“A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is alright. This is common sense really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not well you are sleeping.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Christianity is a waking up to the fact of sin in general and a realizing of the need of salvation regardless of the individual resume.

UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION

The Pelagian assumption is dependent upon a zero sum game that begins with a tabula rasa (blank slate); but the Bible puts forward the idea of us being conceived as debtors and daily adding new debts to the ledger as we grow. In other words, Pelagianism is grounded on a neutral that does not exist. Nothing is neutral. Claiming neutrality is, in fact, a common military formation of one of the two sides party to the conflict. Neutrality, then, is a weapon; and only one side deploys it.

Doug Wilson recently pointed out that the Pelagian impulse is to cry, "inability limits obligation." In other words, if you can't do something, you can't be obligated to do it. It is akin to proposing that if you had no choice in the matter, you can't be held accountable for your choices. You can only be held accountable for things over which you had free choice, or so the story goes. You can't sentence someone or judge someone guilty for impulses over which he had no say is the high watermark of modern logic. The same high watermark those exhibited in the days of Noah.

Genesis 6:5

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The argument proceeds as follows,

"I want to do sinful things, but I didn't choose to want to do sinful things. I never remember making a conscious decision to be a sinner, I just wanted to sin and saw sin as attractive. It was always the case. I have no responsibility, therefore, for the way I feel. And if I cannot be held responsible for how I feel, then why should I be prohibited from acting upon my feelings? If the feelings can't be counted as wrong, then how can the actions that flow from those feelings be any less wrong?"

This sounds right in way... right? But only in a way and only because we're indoctrinated in worldly catechisms in which we have all been trained and led astray. We collectively, impulsively identify the unfairness in it and relate to the plea-bargainer's reply, of "How can I be fined for breaking regulations I had no ability to obey? How can I rightly be held accountable for feelings I didn't ask to feel?"

But this is where the divergence between Augustinian Christianity and Pelagian Christiahhhh....ehhhhh.....errrrrr....nity is most obvious.

Scripture reveals that we are all born in Adam. We have a genetic marker that compels us to follow his example and sin. We are sinful because we are sinners, not the other way around. We are not counted sinful because of our sins, we can count our sins so easily because we are sinners and so good at what we do that you can count on it.

We are commanded by God to die to ourselves. We are commanded to go against our impulses. We are not given vague impulses as excuses for disobeying clear commands. We know what we are to do and how we are commanded to feel about our feelings. You can appeal to thine own self staying true, but it will not hold up in God's court. He has gone on record as to what He requires and what He condemns. If you find yourself, by nature, feeling attracted to things He has declared abominations or feeling repulsed by things He has declared attractive, the problem lies in you and your obligation in response to that is to forsake your feelings and follow Christ.

Because we are all born into Adam, each one of us must die to ourselves on some points and go against our natural inclinations if we are to follow Jesus. No one follows Jesus and feels warm fuzzies about His commands without being regenerated from our old nature into a new nature provided by God.

God does not choose anyone because of something they did or for anything He foresaw that they would do. The conditions of our election are nowhere to be found in us. The condition is located in His loving kindness. His initiative is our confidence. Our initiative towards Him is merely our response to His initiative in us. We live, move, and have our being because He lives, moves, and is.

Romans 9:9-13

For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, "The elder shall serve the younger." As it is written, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."

Paul goes out of his way to point out that the unborn sons had not yet done anything good or bad to deserve favor or discipline. It was at this point that God promised the blessing to the younger. This was not merely a statement of God's preference, but an example of His purposes in election.

A woman once reportedly said to Charles Spurgeon, “I cannot understand why God should say that He hated Esau.”  Spurgeon replied, “That is not my difficulty, madam. My trouble is to understand how God could love Jacob.”

The sticking point is often Esau, right? But that math should not be too hard to wrap your head around. The real head scratcher is God's mercy to Jacob. There is no math for something like that. It is unconditional and cannot be summarized. It is a product of the grace of God in making life not fair.

LIMITED ATONEMENT

"I would rather believe a limited atonement that is efficacious for all men for whom it was intended, than a universal atonement that is not efficacious for anybody, except the will of men be added to it." -- Charles Spurgeon

If someone has a sticking point when it comes to the so-called, "5 Points of Calvinism," it's almost always just the one particular point on which they are stuck... limited atonement.

Unless you have a universalist approach that assumes everyone is going to heaven when they die, you limit atonement somehow. The question is not IF you limit it, but HOW.

You must either limit its efficacy or its ubiquity. That is to say, you must either limit its power or its promiscuity. Which does it lack: surety or scope? Because it must lack one of these. It cannot be all powerful for everyone without being universal. So, is it all powerful for some or potentially powerful for all?

What Spurgeon is quoted as saying above assumes that the atonement is limited in quantity, not quality. That is, it saves to the utmost everyone that it saves. It does not kind of save everyone or definitively save everyone. It only works for those whom it goes to work. But by this definition of the atonement, it's scope is limited or reduced from everyone in the entire world, to those elected out of the world. Rest assured, all kinds of people will be elected: red and yellow, black and white, rich and poor, men and women, old and young, sick and healthy, etc... But not each and every one from each and every kind will be elected. In other words, no kind of person is exempt, but some of each kind will be.

Many find this discrimination distasteful and opt for a more broad-minded approach saying, "the atonement made it possible for each and every individual regardless of race, nation, tongue, gender, etc... to be saved." In this arrangement, the scope is broadened to include everyone ubiquitously, however, the efficacy has now been limited. In this understanding, everyone CAN make it to heaven, but no one assuredly WILL. In this case, at least in theory, everyone could reject salvation and the atonement and heaven could end up vacant. God would still be good, but Christ would have died for no one in particular. Granted, the benefit, in this formation, would be that everyone could do it, but the fact would remain that no one assuredly would and those who have previously done it should fret that perhaps they didn't do it quite enough or must do it again later just to be safe.

Limiting atonement's scope is the only measure of providing any security to anyone's salvation. While it does mean that some will most assuredly not be saved, it also promises that some most assuredly will. 

John Owen put it this way...

The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for, either:

1. All the sins of all men.

2. All the sins of some men.

3. Some of the sins of some men.

In which case it may be said: 

That if the last be true, all men have some sins to answer for, and so none are saved.

That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth.

But if the first be the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins?

You answer, Because of unbelief. I ask, Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!

In other words, we are left with 4 options, Christ died for:

All of the sins of all men

All of the sins of some men

Some of the sins of all men

Some of the sins of some men

If Jesus died for all of the sins of all men, everyone is going to be saved, but Jesus Himself said some will go to hell (goats, bad fish, weeds, etc...) So, universalism is heresy.

If Jesus died for some of the sins of all men, all men still have some sins for which they must  themselves atone and all would be damned.

If Jesus died for some of the sins of some men, all men still have some sins for which they must atone and some still have all their sins left to atone for in which case, all are damned.

But if Jesus died for all of the sins of some men, then some men will actually be saved — not because of works, lest any of them should boast, but by grace through faith, which is itself a gift flowing from the finished work of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

IRRESISTIBLE GRACE

Matthew 22:14

For many are called, but few are chosen.

All who are called come and all who stay are chosen. Some come and go. Some come incorrectly. Some come for something else. Those who are called, come correctly according to the summons. They come by grace through faith in Christ alone and live by faith according to His rule and reign.

No one who is drawn up by God hopes for holes in the bucket. None come to Him eyeballing the exits. No one is dragged to Heaven against his will. He is converted against his will precisely because his will is the thing that needs converting. Once converted and regenerated, his will does not long for its former life, it longs for the next one. This does not mean that it cannot be tempted by old longings, but that it cannot ignore the new ones. It cannot shake the desire for sanctity, nor does it want to. The will's wants have all been reorganized while some sinful ones may have been abandoned entirely and the ones that remain have been defrocked from their previous priestly positions. They no longer direct the worship service of the soul. As affections, they have either been vanquished or court marshaled. Inordinate affections have all been rounded up and reordered according to the commands of Christ. He keeps our cares corralled according to their kind and to their proper proportion.

God does not fail. He does not have unfulfilled desires with respect to His will of decree. In that regard, what He says goes and what He calls comes. His will of desire is communicated to us through the Law and the Gospel. This can be resisted or ignored. We can resist or grieve the Spirit in this respect, but not with respect to our spirits. We are not sovereign over our souls. We do not possess the ability to lock God out. There is not a PIN He does not know or a lock for which He doesn't possess the key. He cannot be kept at a distance by a restraining order. He provides both the inspiration to ask and the answer. There is not a move toward Him which did not originate in His moving the mover to move. 

The kindness of God is His Kingness. He is good and in charge and good at being in charge. He demands what is divine and inspires in His elect that which delivers them from death. He is no one's Plan B. He cannot be had as an afterthought. He does not accept seconds. He is not forced to receive any He does not want and there is no one who wants Him who won't be received. He provides the "want to" and the "will do" because the "all done" has been accomplished in Christ.

John 19:30

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished:" and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (emphasis mine)

PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

"When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent' (Mt 4:17), He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance." -- Martin Luther, 95 Theses, #1

The saints persevere primarily in repentance. They never cease turning to Christ. They are not sinless, but they do sin less. But in their sinning, the sin of unrepentance is absent. A saint is not one who never sins again, but one who repents again and again. It's not that they never fail, but that they never fail to ask for forgiveness. That is the handiwork of Christ in keeping His saints. They endure difficulty for the sake of Christ and endure humility in constantly confessing their ongoing need for His intervention and intercession.

The word commonly translated, "persevere," in the New Testament is hypomonḗ which is a compound word made up from hypó, "under" and ménō, "remain, endure." In other words, persevering is a matter of "remaining under." This can apply to remaining under difficulties for as long as they might last, in which case we say the man persevered, or to remaining under submission to God regardless of the circumstances. Whatever stands around you are your circumstances (circum "around" and stances "standing"). Perseverance is standing with God regardless of whoever stands against you or whatever stands around you. Whatever stands up, you don't stand down. You possess steadfastness and endurance because in Christ, by the power of His Holy Spirit to will and work in you, you are like Him who endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him.

Hebrews 12:2-3

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Jesus remained under (hypomone) the cross. He remained under the mockery of sinners. He did get out from under His cross. He did not abandon His post to get back at sinners. He endured. He persevered and by His grace and through His Spirit, we, like Him, remain under whatever stands around us so that we might stand confident in Christ before His Father.

Ephesians 6:13

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

We stand in Christ against sin. We stay put where He has placed us. We endure the conditions He requires and in the manner and by the means He has commanded.

Hebrews 4:16

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

We come at all because He called us. We come humbly because of who we were when He called. We come boldly because of Who it is that called us. We come joyfully because of Who we go to. We come with confidence because of Whose we are. We come and we stay because of Christ sat down.

John 18:9

Of them which thou gavest Me have I lost none.

We cannot be lost because God cannot lose in any sense of that word.