Having Grit

Having Grit

I recently did an article on using four letter words that are good words. Lately I have been reading about a different topic that I think can help us. We should strive to make this one of our personal attributes. It is GRIT.

As a sixth grader, one of the first jobs I ever had was to sell Grit Newspapers. It has been a few days since I was 12 years old, but I remember they would mail me like 25 copies for free, then I would sell them for 25 cents and mail back 5 cents for each copy sold.

I doubt the newspaper still exists, but back then Grit was filled with good heart-warming stories. Things the whole family could enjoy reading. Today most lives are consumed with all the bad news going on in the world. I looked it up on the internet, and surprisingly they are still in existence and call themselves Grit – Rural American Know How. I am happy they still exist.

Lots of things come to mind when you think of Having Grit.

My mind goes to being determined and persevering. If you look into the Bible for examples, there are very many individuals with grit. Few people ever accomplished a lot in their lives without a lot of grit and determination. Paul was a person who understood what it takes to not give up. He understood how to go forth and when things were against him, he did not give up.

2Co 11:16 I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.

2Co 11:17 That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

2Co 11:18 Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.

2Co 11:19 For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.

2Co 11:20 For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.

2Co 11:21 I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.

2Co 11:22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.

2Co 11:23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

2Co 11:24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

2Co 11:25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

2Co 11:26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

2Co 11:27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

2Co 11:28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

2Co 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

2Co 11:30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

It is abundantly clear that Paul was a man that showed a lot of determination and grit.

In the Mirriam Webster dictionary, Grit is defined as:

firmness of mind or spirit : unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger

When we are confronted with problems, do we look to the Lord for help. Do we show this firmness of mind and spirit as was exemplified in Paul’s life and even more so in our Savior Jesus Christ.

You have to have something deep inside to have courage in the face of hardship or danger

When your life is over, I believe that success will come more by grit and perseverance than by great brains and genius. Knowing what to do is great, but DOING it is the big thing.

Each year at West Point, they bring in about 1200 to 1500 cadets to be trained to become officers in the military. They go through some of the hardest training known to man. They call it BEAST training. For 140 days they are on a rigorous schedule with no time off and no contact with the outside world.

One of the books I am reading is by a lady called Angela Duckworth. It is titled “Grit : The Power of Passion and Perseverance”. She went to West Point to determine how recruits are selected and how they were being tested for entrance. They did this huge study on the candidates called the Whole Candidate Score. It looks at your upbringing, your involvement in sports, your background, and your accomplishments. Unless you rate highly on this score, you are not considered for entrance.

But what they found is some of the candidates who rated at the top didn’t make it. Sometimes over 100 would drop out in the first week, while the scores showed they were tops in all categories.

After much research, they found that it wasn’t your ACT or SAT score, not your high school rank, not your leadership experience, nor your athletic ability. What truly mattered was if that cadet had GRIT.

GRIT meant that when facing overwhelming defeat, you had something others didn’t have. You would not stop until you finish your goal. With dogged determination those who make it are resilient and have a no-defeat attitude. That means no matter what, they keep on keeping on.

Henry Ford said “Failure is just a resting place. It is an opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”

Do we keep getting back up after a failure? Do we learn from our mistakes and become better for having failed. A person who keeps on keeping on will not fail.

Paul Harvey was quoted as saying “The reason for my success is I get up every time I get knocked down.”

As a Christian, it is great to start off and be fired up for God. But after the newness of salvation wears off, what will we do? Will we just give up and quit trying? I think God wants us to be people with Grit.

C. S. Lewis, the great writer, said: “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”

The Apostle Paul knew where his strength came from. His confidence was not in his personal strength, but it was in the Lord.

Php 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

Php 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

Php 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Php 3:8 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,

Php 3:9 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:

Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Don’t be upset with tests and possible failures in your daily life. They are good for us and make us grow in faith.

James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Jas 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Jas 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

Jas 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

Jas 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Want to have a more productive Christian life? Learn to lean on the Lord for help in every situation. And build up inner resolve to be a person known for grit, resilience, and perseverance.

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