May 21, 2026
Thursday, May 21
When we hear the word “grit,” we might picture a steely, unfeeling person. I think of Colonel Kilgore, the character played by Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now. He strides through live battlefields without fear, ignoring the bullets whizzing past, the bombs exploding all around him. “I love the smell of napalm in the morning,” he tells his terrified troops. Of course, Kilgore is a fictional character. I’ve never been in combat, but I strongly suspect people who behave that way on a real battleground are short-lived. According to Scripture, the grit required to stay in the true fight doesn’t come from emotional coldness. Hebrews 10:19-24 tells us to look to a source outside ourselves.
In v. 23, we’re told to “hold fast to…our hope.” Back in chapter 6, it says the same thing, and it adds this detail: Our hope is an anchor to our souls. What is hope? It’s the knowledge that what God has planned for us after this life puts even the best earthly pleasures to shame. If you have hope, you can stand anything. We all know this. On Thanksgiving morning, we happy souls who aren’t roasting the turkey or baking the pie the heavenly aroma drifting out of the kitchen. We know it’s coming. So even though we’re hungry, we don’t despair. We don’t jump in the car and drive to Burger King, because we know something better is coming. Without hope, we settle for what the world offers…and it’s never enough.
In 1952, Florence Chadwick attempted to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast. If she did it, she would be first woman to ever accomplish the feat. Chadwick was a young, very fit woman who had swum longer distances than she faced that day. But after fifteen hours in the water, she gave up, even though her mother—in a boat nearby—promised she was almost there. After they pulled her into the boat, she found out that she had less than half a mile to go. She told reporters, “All I could see was fog. I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.” That’s a great lesson for us. If all we focus on is the fog around us—our own problems, the actions and words of people who annoy us, the troubles of this broken world—then we will give up. But if we focus on the shore, we’ll make it.
This is why I urge people to spend more time in God’s Word than they do watching the news or scanning social media. God’s Word helps you see the shore. It reminds you of His promises. It presents our future in vivid, exciting terms. Are you focused on the fog, or are you looking at the shore?
“O Holy Spirit, please train me to fix my eyes on the things above, where Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. Teach me the hope that does not disappoint. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.”
Senior Pastor
First Baptist Conroe
More from Pastor Jeff at his website: jeffbergerwriting.com
