[1]
Matthew
24:12-13 Good
News Translation
12 Such will be the spread of evil that
many people's love will grow cold. 13 But whoever holds out to
the end will be saved.
.
While a student at Andrews University, I discovered the joys
of being in an academic environment. Many of the students had interests
in all kinds of things; curiosity was popular and encouraged. I had discovered
the fulfilment that came from picking up languages. In high school I learned
Afrikaans and could speak it fluently. Then as a sophomore in college, I found
myself at Seminar Marienhöhe
sweating to learn German. By the end of the semester, I was speaking it fairly
easily. At the end of that semester, my brother Elwood and I were shipping out
to the States through Rotterdam in the Netherlands. From a Bbile Society booth,
I picked up the gospel of Mark in Dutch. Totally unaware of the pitfalls of
language, I spent several weeks reading the gospel and, using my Afrikaans to
understand the meanings of the words, wrote up a grammar for Dutch and felt
pretty good about knowing the language. When I got to Holland, I quickly
discovered that I had done well and understood all that was being spoken.
However, it took a couple days to pin down the fact that the Dutch I had taught
myself so diligently was very old fashioned. It was like King James
English—understandable, but totally outdated. The gospel I had used was probably
the Statenvertaling of the Bible and was published in 1637! However, by
the end of four days, I was getting around very well in modern Dutch.
At Andrews the Greek scholar, Leona Running, announced that
she would be teaching New Testament Greek on Friday evenings in the Seminary
Chapel. As a kid I had spent a lot of time delving into various historical
fonts and knew the Greek alphabet very well. So, I showed up to the Seminary
Chapel and got myself a seat near the front. The chapel filled up so there was
standing room only as Dr. Running began her first lecture. She had me
enthralled. I observed, in total surprise, that over the next ten weeks there
were significantly fewer attendees at each meeting. For the last few meetings
there were only about four of us attending. Prof. Running was not surprised.
About ten years later, I was a graduate student at the
University of Iowa working on my PhD in mathematics. I was toying with going to
teach math at Middle East College in Beirut, Lebanon. Two Egyptian students at
the university announced a “class” in Egyptian Arabic. I signed up and made
excellent progress in Arabic. Again, I noticed the same phenomenon as in the
Greek class. The first meeting or two we had a huge class, but towards the end
there were only a handful of people who were still coming. I did not go to
Lebanon; instead, I went to Helderberg College in South Africa. However, I’ve
often wondered how I would have done with Egyptian Arabic in Lebanon. As it is,
I never used the Arabic and so have forgotten it, except for some cognates of
Swahili words I had learned during five years teaching math and learning
Swahili in Tanzania.
In Biblical stories, remember Noah’s Ark? I have a feeling
that when Noah started building it, he had a large number of helpers. However,
as more than a century went by, many helpers’ love or enthusiasm grew cold, and
they deserted him. Eventually only three of his sons, and he probably had many,
entered the ark with their wives and were saved. Most of the antediluvial
patriarchs started their families during their first or second centuries,
whereas Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth were all born around the beginning
of his seventh century. Very likely he had other children during his younger
years, but they never went into the ark to be saved. That must have been tragic
for Noah and his wife.
Christ was aware of our human nature to start things but
then give up along the way. Hence His encouragement in our text.
Continue to remind me, Lord, that I must hang in there
with You, or all of our cooperation of effort will be in vain.
[1]
https://blissfulroad.com/the-importance-of-persistence-in-achieving-your-goals/
