”The secret of success is constancy of purpose,” said Disraeli. Jesus said, ”He that endureth to the end shall be saved.” We must keep on keeping on.

There is a marker on the rock near the top of Mt. Washington. It marks the spot where a woman climber lay down and died. She was so close to the top that you can almost hit it with a stone. A hundred steps more and she would have reached the hut, the shelter she sought. But she did not know this. She was disheartened by the storm. She was beaten in body, distressed in spirit, at the end of her courage. She could not see a step ahead. She could not measure how far she had to go. She died one hundred steps from her goal!

It is easy to quit. It is also fatal. When the going is rough and we think we can’t go on, we can make one more step. In 1815 Wellington was talking to his forces at Waterloo. ”Hard pounding this, Gentlemen,” he said. ”Let’s see who can pound the longest.” That is the secret. Keep on pounding. Of course, we must know where we are going. Our goal in life must be clearly defined and fixed in our mind. Our goal, if we belong to Christ, must be the kingdom. Let us then say with Paul, ”I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

With the Kingdom of God fixed in our minds we need to faithfully day after day press on towards it. Paul exhorts us to be ”stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

Now it’s all well and good to say, ”Keep on, press on, take another step and then another,” but let’s be specific; just how do we press on? What do we do when we take another step towards the Kingdom of God?

We do things for God every day. Constantly and consistently we pray, we do our Bible readings, we are faithful in our attendance at every kind of meeting, be it the Memorial Service, the evening lecture, a mid-week Bible class or Sunday School. We are always willing to serve. We teach the young if asked, we tend the door, we visit the sick, we write letters to those who are lonely, we do a hundred and one little things and we do them every day, not for the praise of man but for the Lord. We keep pounding, and we pound every day.

This type of dedication is known by our Heavenly Father. Jesus tells us that a cup of cold water given to a little one is not forgotten.

Have we ever considered just what can we give to the Creator of heaven and earth? God possesses all things, what can we do for Him? We can be kind to some of His other children. He is pleased when we show our love this way. Jesus said, ”Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me.”

Remember that ”the secret of success is constancy of purpose.” Keep on keeping on in the service of the Lord. Jude sums it up very well for us. ”You, my friends, must fortify yourselves in your most sacred faith. Continue to pray ... keep yourselves in the love of God, and look forward to the day when our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy will give eternal life.” (New English Bible)