October 17, 2025 • 20 mins
Faith isn't something we own; it's something we steward to others. In Luke 18:1–8, Jesus teaches us about the persistent widow who kept knocking until a weary judge relented. Her courage becomes our template for a faith that endures indifference, resists despair, and stays tender without giving up. We talk about hope as the engine of perseverance, how small acts compound into movements, and why faith gains its richest colors when life runs hot and hard.
In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about perseverance. Together, they unpack a countercultural claim: perseverance is community property. When your trust is thin, you can borrow mine; when I’m weary, I may need yours. From singing each other back to courage to telling honest stories that spark imagination, we show how public witness—bold yet gentle—invites others in. This conversation reaches into the public square, naming dignity for every person, resisting dehumanization, and calling for peace with justice that allows neighbors to flourish together. Perseverance becomes a daily posture: steady, hopeful, and communal—rooted in love that refuses hate’s heavy load. Listen in for the full conversation.
Read For Faith, the companion devotional.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bishop Wright (00:00):
Faith is not my personal possession, but am I
being a good steward of thefaith that the Holy Spirit has
entrusted in me?
In other words, will people seeme and want to trust God more
because of some little bit I didor said?
My story of faith is communityproperty.
I mean, in appropriate ways,because if I tell my story of
(00:22):
persevering in God, someone elsecould be encouraged.
Maybe their imagination will beexpanded, maybe their heart
will be broadened.
(00:49):
Welcome to For People with Bishop Rob Wright. A conversation inspried by Bishop Wright's For Faith weekly devotional. I'm your host Melissa Rau. Youcan find a link to this week's
For Faith and a link tosubscribe in the episode's
description.
Over the last nine weeks or so,Bishop has been framing his
devotion through the lens ofwhat we believe.
And he named this week'sdevotion, We Believe in
Perseverance, inspired by Lukechapter 18, verses 1 through 8.
Bishop.
(01:10):
Yeah, thanks, Melissa.
This week I want to talk aboutperseverance.
We believe in perseverance.
Faith in general is good, butfaith in the face of obstacles,
hardship, and rejection isbetter.
That is the point, I think, ofJesus' story about the woman who
knocks on the door until thegrumpy judge grants her plea.
(01:35):
Like the black moral mushroom,an edible mushroom and delicacy
that grows in massive quantitiesonly in areas scorched by
wildfires, there is an aspect offaith that only thrives when
the environment is difficult,even hostile to faith.
The faith that the world needstoday is a faith that keeps
(01:58):
knocking despite the world'sindifference.
Melissa (02:04):
Well, goodness gracious bishop.
So that sounds likepersevering.
We have to persevere despitethings being stacked up against
us.
Bishop Wright (02:12):
Yeah, I mean I think I think one of the best
ways to see the all the colorsavailable uh in faith is to is
to trust, uh, is to sort of seefaith in God stretched out over
time and stretched out over uhups and downs.
(02:34):
Uh, then I think we get amature sense of what faith
actually is.
And it is true that one aspectof faith, the Bible tells us
this, and our own experiencetells us this, is that uh
faith's most colorful colorsactually are revealed when we
are faced with hardships,obstacles, rejection, where
(02:56):
perseverance, you know, isrequired, where we have to hold
on, as the as the old song says,hold on to God's unchanging
hands.
It is not to give in todespair.
Uh, it is not to be a slave todoubt.
Those seasons of doubt come uhin any normal faith life, but it
is to realize that we're goingto go forward in God, which
(03:20):
means we're gonna have to holdon until we get our next set of
assignments in God, so to speak.
Melissa (03:27):
So, Bishop, what would you say the relationship between
hope and perseverance are?
Bishop Wright (03:33):
Oh, yeah.
Well, hope is the driver ofperseverance, right?
So our hope is that, and youknow, sort of colloquially said,
if God isn't dead and we haveno, we have no knowledge that
God is dead, that God is stillalive and thriving, then we have
every good reason to hope.
So, and and hope just meansbelieving that God is real,
(03:55):
able, good, and generous, andthat God is not asleep, as the
Bible says, and that God hassomething to say to us even now.
This is why faith in communityis critical.
Left to our own devices, uh, wemiss opportunities uh to be
cross-fertilized by otherpeople's faith.
Sometimes when I've been weakin faith or I had my legitimate
(04:17):
doubts, or even when we're justweary, I was uh regenerated,
encouraged, uh, and uh, youknow, and was able to move
forward because someone lent metheir faith.
Someone's sort of buoyancy uhcame and gave me some buoyancy.
So perseverance is notsomething that we have to
generate all by ourselves.
Uh, perseverance is somethingthat is the property of the
(04:41):
community.
So when it comes to the matterof perseverance, sometimes we're
in the lending business andsometimes we're in the receiving
business.
Melissa (04:50):
Can you unpack that just a little bit?
Bishop Wright (04:53):
Well, what I mean by that is that uh sometimes we
find ourselves in a season ofjoy, um, of contentment.
Um uh maybe uh we have had somesort of recent winning in God,
so to speak.
The stars are aligning and allis well with our souls.
And and we know that we knowthat we know that trust is where
(05:14):
we should be in God.
And sometimes we may encountersomeone who's in a different
season.
They may be in a season wherethey're depleted, they're weary,
uh, doubt is taking them over,despair is knocking at their
door.
And so uh it may be our seasonto lend our faith, to encourage.
As I've said on this podcastbefore, I think when I was the
(05:35):
senior pastor of a congregation,I used to encourage my
congregation to sing uh and uhyou know, sing with their full
throat because you never knowwho's sitting beside you.
Uh, maybe during the weekprevious, they've had their song
beat out of them because oflife or circumstances, bad news
from the doctor.
I mean, you just name it.
(05:57):
And so, and what I said to themwas is that if it's your week
to sing with your full throat,uh, you do that knowing that
someday down the road, it may betheir turn to sing you into
faith, right?
And so uh perseverance is notsomething we have to sort of uh
figure out ourselves.
We don't have to sort of muscleit up and all that sort of
thing.
It's a grace.
(06:18):
Uh it it is uh it's cyclical,um, it's about the community's
dynamic.
Um, but nevertheless, the endresult is the same.
It's about trusting God over aseason, particularly of
hardship, rejection.
I mean, this is why the storyJesus tells is so important.
Uh, and it's a it's a comicalstory.
The the group the judge uhwhose door she knocks at, it
(06:39):
says that she's no respecter ofperson or of God, right?
I mean, this was just a grumpy,kind of indifferent kind of
fella.
Maybe he sat on the bench allday, maybe he heard all kinds of
craziness as he adjudicated thelaw, and he just didn't need
any of this foolishness fromthis woman who would not give up
knocking.
She knocked nevertheless.
And so we distill from thatthat Jesus is saying something
(07:02):
about our posture of faith whenit comes, particularly to
indifference in the world.
And look, a lot of people getoverwhelmed by the odds.
They say, you know, the systemsthat are so big and sometimes
against us, but what does mylittle faith matter?
Well, it matters an awful lotbecause our little faith makes
room for somebody else's littlefaith, and so on and so on and
(07:25):
so on.
And before you know it, uh wehave a movement.
And so this is absolutelycritical for us.
Melissa (07:53):
Yeah.
You know, I just watched JaneGoodall's uh famous last words
on Netflix.
Holy cow.
It was so powerful.
So, listeners, if you haven'tseen it, I highly encourage you
to do so.
But talk about grit, right?
I think what you just said,Bishop, you talked about the
little faith and little faithand little faith.
And I think one of the thingsthat Jane Goodall is encouraging
(08:16):
folks to do is if we can justdo one simple thing, if eight,
nine billion of us did onesimple thing, exactly, that
could create change, right?
Exactly.
Positive change.
So it's just not about givingup.
We don't give up.
Bishop Wright (08:29):
And you know, the other the other part of it too
is so so Jane Goodall actuallydidn't have when she started her
journey, uh, she actuallydidn't have any credentials.
She she had a little bit of aburning passion.
And then as she went into it,uh, she fell in love with
nature, fell in love uh clearlywith uh with chimpanzees,
learned at their feet.
And then she made space for alot of people uh by her example.
(08:53):
And and I think we don't talkabout that uh nearly enough,
perhaps, uh, you know, in thefaith.
And that is people watching usbe bold and gentle, trusting God
in the face of adversity, uh,gives them something enigmatic
to think about.
And so I always think aboutfaith as not my personal
possession, but am I being agood steward of the faith that
(09:17):
the Holy Spirit has entrusted inme?
In other words, will people seeme uh and want to trust God
more because of some little bitI did or said or added to the,
you know, to the equation?
And so it's radically public,this idea of faith.
And it's it's um it's sort ofmalformed when we think about
(09:38):
faith as personal.
Um it's it's it's actuallycommunity property.
My story of faith is communityproperty.
I mean, in appropriate ways,uh, because um, if I tell my
story of persevering in God,someone else could be
encouraged.
Maybe their imagination will beexpanded, maybe their heart
will be broadened.
Um, you know, uh, we talk aboutuh shame and guilt that we
(10:02):
ought to be on watch for all ofthat, but then there's something
that is actually constructiveand positive, and that's called
conviction.
And so as someone in my midstis being faithful and radically
so, I'm in some way convicted,right?
In other words, now the wordsthat I say on Sunday are right
at the top of my brain.
(10:23):
And I'm thinking about, I'mdoing a bit of an integrity
audit.
Am I living that way?
And so sometimes we get tooquick to guilt and shame where
we ought to pause a little bitand say, it is just my
bifurcation being showcasedhere, right?
The concessions that I've made,um, the collusion that I'm
actively involved in, is thatbeing highlighted?
(10:44):
Yes.
Uh, because remember, the HolySpirit's job is never to sort of
shame us, condemn us, guilt us,but we have to be brought to
intersections where we candecide who do I want to be?
What are my ultimateallegiances at this moment?
The ultimate allegiance of thiswidow who knocked on the door
was to her cause.
(11:05):
There was no doubt about it.
She was going to keep knockingon the door.
And the judge, who he says hehad no respect for God nor for
people, he had to submit himselfto her perseverance.
Now, we can think about allthese amazing men and women of
the faith who just, whose nameswe know, the vast majority of
them whose names we do not know,who just decided, I'm going to
(11:30):
live this way, come what may,hell or high water.
And those people, their gentleboldness but moral clarity made
the difference for generationsafter them.
Melissa (11:41):
Yeah.
Bishop, I read the last line ofthis passage and it was kind of
chilling.
Um, it was Jesus' words.
Uh, it says, I tell you, uh, hetaught he's talking about
listen to what the unjust, we'regonna do that again.
I gotta find it.
So the last line says, I tellyou, he will quickly grant
(12:05):
justice to them.
And yet, when the Son of Mancomes, will he find faith on
earth?
I mean, absolutely chilling.
And so if we don't haveperseverance and people just
give up, well then what mightthe Christ find?
Bishop Wright (12:21):
Yeah.
Melissa (12:22):
When the Christ returns.
Bishop Wright (12:23):
There's a there's an old song.
I'm thinking a lot about songstoday.
There's an old song that says,Must Jesus bear the cross alone
and all the world go free?
Um, and so and so I hear Jesus'voice there um setting an
expectation, which is clear,which is, hey, I'm looking for
my partners.
Where are my partners?
(12:44):
And so if we can't think aboutthis any other way, then think
about it that way.
Must Jesus uh carry the crossalone?
And if I'm a friend of Jesus,especially in response to Jesus'
friendship offer to me, uh,wouldn't I want to, as best as I
can, walk beside Jesus, joinhim in his purposes, love how he
(13:05):
loved, even though we fall andwe fail and we stumble, of
course we do.
Of course we do.
But wouldn't I want to just layclaim to the fact that I want
to be partner?
And according to the story,when Jesus comes back and looks
for his partners, I do want tobe numbered among them, right?
I'm not saying I'm some kind ofspiritual super athlete.
I'm that's not what this textis about.
(13:26):
But it's saying uh myallegiance is such that I want
to be numbered on that day.
I want to, I mean, this iswhere I think we really move
into a maturity of faith, right?
So I'm not externally driven.
I'm not believing in Jesusbecause I don't want to go to
hell.
So therefore I have arelationship of fire insurance
(13:47):
with Jesus, right?
Some people have that, right?
Which is really driven by fear,or I'm not believing in Jesus
for all the good things I'mgonna get, right?
And some people have thatprosperity gospel mindset.
Uh I'm not believing in Jesusbecause I believe He'll protect
me from what it means to behuman, sometimes sickness,
sometimes all the no, I'm I'mbelieving in Jesus because that
is the way I've decided to livemy life, full stop settled.
(14:10):
And and that is that ismaturity now.
It's not based on externaldrivers, it's internally driven.
I have decided that this is myNorth Star.
I have decided this is thedirection I'm going.
And uh and I have decided thatthis is my frame to see the
world and my neighbor through.
(14:31):
And and it that's a beautifulthing, actually.
I I love to meet older peoplethese days, uh, and occasionally
a younger person who, becauseof ups and downs in life and all
arounds, uh, they have landed.
You know, I'm 61 now, and Ifind that I'm getting clearer
about some things, not grumpier,I hope, um, and not cynical and
(14:54):
not cantankerous, but you aregetting clearer about right and
wrong, about how I should treatpeople, right?
I mean, it's not negotiable atsome point.
At some point, the fact thatyou have dignity is settled.
And that even though wedisagree vehemently, perhaps
even, that I'm going to treatyou with dignity, respect, et
(15:15):
cetera.
I mean, certain things getsettled.
And so I think that one of thebest indicators of Christian
maturity is that this mattergets settled for us.
That I'm clear who I am andwhose I am, and I'm clear that
I'm joining Jesus in Jesus'purposes rather than trying to
manipulate Jesus into mypurposes.
(15:35):
And I think that is the bestindicator for Christian
maturity.
Melissa (15:40):
You used a fancy word a little bit ago, conviction.
Bishop Wright (15:44):
Yeah.
Melissa (15:44):
And um, there's some etymology of that word that
really talks about overcoming.
Bishop Wright (15:50):
Yeah.
Melissa (15:50):
And so, you know, one can be convicted and be an
absolute bullheaded jerk.
And yet you're not talkingabout that.
So we're talking aboutpersevering, but with
conviction, not just holding on,but leaning in.
Bishop Wright (16:04):
Right.
Well, Dr.
King said, I have decided thathate is too much to bear.
He was absolutely convictedthat love was the only way to
untangle all the mess that we'vemade of human community.
So he was not going to succumbto hate.
He's being clear, he'sconvicted.
He's seen the world, he's seenthe broadness and the depthness
(16:26):
and the depth of our brokenness.
And he has decided that hate inno set of circumstances is our
appropriate response or is anappropriate response for us who
follow Jesus.
Right?
And so we can lobby, we canmarch, we can uh we can do our
work nonviolently, we can do allthose sorts of things.
Like the, like the woman, uhthe widow at night, we're just
(16:47):
gonna keep on knocking becausewe're gonna keep on knocking
because we've decided thatknocking the man's door down and
taking him hostage is not partof what we do and who we are.
So, yeah, the conviction oncertain things that you have
dignity, that we will perseverein resisting evil.
Like the, it's like thebaptismal covenant, uh, that uh
(17:08):
that we will respect the dignityof every human being.
Um, that when we fall into sin,uh we're not trapped in our
sins, that we can always repentand return.
We're absolutely crystal clearthere.
Uh we're crystal clear that Iam not arbitrary and neither are
you.
I am not an accident of theuniverse, and neither are you.
In fact, the entire universe isnot an accident.
That the universe was born of abenevolent, loving mind.
(17:31):
We happen to call that mindGod.
But and that that matters, andif that matters, you matter and
I matter, and we should betreated in a certain way.
So, yeah, conviction on thoseprinciples I think is critical.
And convicted on principleslike every person in this world
and in this nation deserveshealth care.
(17:52):
And every person in this nationuh deserves freedom.
Uh, so today we have to say,before we close, uh, we rejoice
that the hostages, the 20 or sohostages, uh have been released,
uh, the Israeli hostages uhfrom the hands of Hamas.
And we need to rejoice alsothat there are Palestinians uh
(18:16):
who on today have also beenreleased.
And we pray to God that uh theconviction of a peaceful and
prosperity, uh prosperous goingforward for all parties included
will be what we're convictedabout uh as uh as nations of the
world, as great nations.
I hope that's what we'reconvicted about, which is that
(18:38):
no more of this terrorism uh andno more of this uh what appears
to have been uh almost ethniccleansing in Gaza, that there's
no more of this, um, that werule it all out of bounds on
every side, and that we figureout a way for Palestinians and
(18:58):
Jews and all kinds of uh formerenemies to live together in
mutual peace and mutualprosperity.
That actually is the convictionthe Bible conveys that all of
us would be able to sit underour own vine and fig tree uh and
have war no more about us uhand have peace for all of us.
Melissa (19:20):
Here, here, Bishop.
So I guess like Dory andFinding Nemo, we just got to
keep on swimming.
Bishop Wright (19:26):
You know, uh there's a sermon to be preached
uh on finding Nemo and onfinding Dory.
And of course, I love thoseshows because my kids were
little then and we watched them.
A lot of wonderful redeemingmessages there.
Perseverance is knowing what tohold on to uh and uh when to
never give up.
(19:47):
Uh and uh and Dory told us uhpoetically we have to sometimes
just keep on swimming.
And so I think this is what theuh the widow tells us just keep
on swimming and make room forGod.
Melissa (19:59):
Amen.
Bishop, thank you, and thankyou, listeners, for listening
to For People.
You can follow us on Instagramand Facebook at Bishop Rob
Wright, or by visitingwww.forpeople.digital.
Please subscribe, leave areview, and we'll be back with
you next week.
Faith is not my personal possession, but am I
being a good steward of thefaith that the Holy Spirit has
entrusted in me?
In other words, will people seeme and want to trust God more
because of some little bit I didor said?
My story of faith is communityproperty.
I mean, in appropriate ways,because if I tell my story of
(00:22):
persevering in God, someone elsecould be encouraged.
Maybe their imagination will beexpanded, maybe their heart
will be broadened.
(00:49):
Welcome to For People with Bishop Rob Wright. A conversation inspried by Bishop Wright's For Faith weekly devotional. I'm your host Melissa Rau. Youcan find a link to this week's
For Faith and a link tosubscribe in the episode's
description.
Over the last nine weeks or so,Bishop has been framing his
devotion through the lens ofwhat we believe.
And he named this week'sdevotion, We Believe in
Perseverance, inspired by Lukechapter 18, verses 1 through 8.
Bishop.
(01:10):
Yeah, thanks, Melissa.
This week I want to talk aboutperseverance.
We believe in perseverance.
Faith in general is good, butfaith in the face of obstacles,
hardship, and rejection isbetter.
That is the point, I think, ofJesus' story about the woman who
knocks on the door until thegrumpy judge grants her plea.
(01:35):
Like the black moral mushroom,an edible mushroom and delicacy
that grows in massive quantitiesonly in areas scorched by
wildfires, there is an aspect offaith that only thrives when
the environment is difficult,even hostile to faith.
The faith that the world needstoday is a faith that keeps
(01:58):
knocking despite the world'sindifference.
Melissa (02:04):
Well, goodness gracious bishop.
So that sounds likepersevering.
We have to persevere despitethings being stacked up against
us.
Bishop Wright (02:12):
Yeah, I mean I think I think one of the best
ways to see the all the colorsavailable uh in faith is to is
to trust, uh, is to sort of seefaith in God stretched out over
time and stretched out over uhups and downs.
(02:34):
Uh, then I think we get amature sense of what faith
actually is.
And it is true that one aspectof faith, the Bible tells us
this, and our own experiencetells us this, is that uh
faith's most colorful colorsactually are revealed when we
are faced with hardships,obstacles, rejection, where
(02:56):
perseverance, you know, isrequired, where we have to hold
on, as the as the old song says,hold on to God's unchanging
hands.
It is not to give in todespair.
Uh, it is not to be a slave todoubt.
Those seasons of doubt come uhin any normal faith life, but it
is to realize that we're goingto go forward in God, which
(03:20):
means we're gonna have to holdon until we get our next set of
assignments in God, so to speak.
Melissa (03:27):
So, Bishop, what would you say the relationship between
hope and perseverance are?
Bishop Wright (03:33):
Oh, yeah.
Well, hope is the driver ofperseverance, right?
So our hope is that, and youknow, sort of colloquially said,
if God isn't dead and we haveno, we have no knowledge that
God is dead, that God is stillalive and thriving, then we have
every good reason to hope.
So, and and hope just meansbelieving that God is real,
(03:55):
able, good, and generous, andthat God is not asleep, as the
Bible says, and that God hassomething to say to us even now.
This is why faith in communityis critical.
Left to our own devices, uh, wemiss opportunities uh to be
cross-fertilized by otherpeople's faith.
Sometimes when I've been weakin faith or I had my legitimate
(04:17):
doubts, or even when we're justweary, I was uh regenerated,
encouraged, uh, and uh, youknow, and was able to move
forward because someone lent metheir faith.
Someone's sort of buoyancy uhcame and gave me some buoyancy.
So perseverance is notsomething that we have to
generate all by ourselves.
Uh, perseverance is somethingthat is the property of the
(04:41):
community.
So when it comes to the matterof perseverance, sometimes we're
in the lending business andsometimes we're in the receiving
business.
Melissa (04:50):
Can you unpack that just a little bit?
Bishop Wright (04:53):
Well, what I mean by that is that uh sometimes we
find ourselves in a season ofjoy, um, of contentment.
Um uh maybe uh we have had somesort of recent winning in God,
so to speak.
The stars are aligning and allis well with our souls.
And and we know that we knowthat we know that trust is where
(05:14):
we should be in God.
And sometimes we may encountersomeone who's in a different
season.
They may be in a season wherethey're depleted, they're weary,
uh, doubt is taking them over,despair is knocking at their
door.
And so uh it may be our seasonto lend our faith, to encourage.
As I've said on this podcastbefore, I think when I was the
(05:35):
senior pastor of a congregation,I used to encourage my
congregation to sing uh and uhyou know, sing with their full
throat because you never knowwho's sitting beside you.
Uh, maybe during the weekprevious, they've had their song
beat out of them because oflife or circumstances, bad news
from the doctor.
I mean, you just name it.
(05:57):
And so, and what I said to themwas is that if it's your week
to sing with your full throat,uh, you do that knowing that
someday down the road, it may betheir turn to sing you into
faith, right?
And so uh perseverance is notsomething we have to sort of uh
figure out ourselves.
We don't have to sort of muscleit up and all that sort of
thing.
It's a grace.
(06:18):
Uh it it is uh it's cyclical,um, it's about the community's
dynamic.
Um, but nevertheless, the endresult is the same.
It's about trusting God over aseason, particularly of
hardship, rejection.
I mean, this is why the storyJesus tells is so important.
Uh, and it's a it's a comicalstory.
The the group the judge uhwhose door she knocks at, it
(06:39):
says that she's no respecter ofperson or of God, right?
I mean, this was just a grumpy,kind of indifferent kind of
fella.
Maybe he sat on the bench allday, maybe he heard all kinds of
craziness as he adjudicated thelaw, and he just didn't need
any of this foolishness fromthis woman who would not give up
knocking.
She knocked nevertheless.
And so we distill from thatthat Jesus is saying something
(07:02):
about our posture of faith whenit comes, particularly to
indifference in the world.
And look, a lot of people getoverwhelmed by the odds.
They say, you know, the systemsthat are so big and sometimes
against us, but what does mylittle faith matter?
Well, it matters an awful lotbecause our little faith makes
room for somebody else's littlefaith, and so on and so on and
(07:25):
so on.
And before you know it, uh wehave a movement.
And so this is absolutelycritical for us.
Melissa (07:53):
Yeah.
You know, I just watched JaneGoodall's uh famous last words
on Netflix.
Holy cow.
It was so powerful.
So, listeners, if you haven'tseen it, I highly encourage you
to do so.
But talk about grit, right?
I think what you just said,Bishop, you talked about the
little faith and little faithand little faith.
And I think one of the thingsthat Jane Goodall is encouraging
(08:16):
folks to do is if we can justdo one simple thing, if eight,
nine billion of us did onesimple thing, exactly, that
could create change, right?
Exactly.
Positive change.
So it's just not about givingup.
We don't give up.
Bishop Wright (08:29):
And you know, the other the other part of it too
is so so Jane Goodall actuallydidn't have when she started her
journey, uh, she actuallydidn't have any credentials.
She she had a little bit of aburning passion.
And then as she went into it,uh, she fell in love with
nature, fell in love uh clearlywith uh with chimpanzees,
learned at their feet.
And then she made space for alot of people uh by her example.
(08:53):
And and I think we don't talkabout that uh nearly enough,
perhaps, uh, you know, in thefaith.
And that is people watching usbe bold and gentle, trusting God
in the face of adversity, uh,gives them something enigmatic
to think about.
And so I always think aboutfaith as not my personal
possession, but am I being agood steward of the faith that
(09:17):
the Holy Spirit has entrusted inme?
In other words, will people seeme uh and want to trust God
more because of some little bitI did or said or added to the,
you know, to the equation?
And so it's radically public,this idea of faith.
And it's it's um it's sort ofmalformed when we think about
(09:38):
faith as personal.
Um it's it's it's actuallycommunity property.
My story of faith is communityproperty.
I mean, in appropriate ways,uh, because um, if I tell my
story of persevering in God,someone else could be
encouraged.
Maybe their imagination will beexpanded, maybe their heart
will be broadened.
Um, you know, uh, we talk aboutuh shame and guilt that we
(10:02):
ought to be on watch for all ofthat, but then there's something
that is actually constructiveand positive, and that's called
conviction.
And so as someone in my midstis being faithful and radically
so, I'm in some way convicted,right?
In other words, now the wordsthat I say on Sunday are right
at the top of my brain.
(10:23):
And I'm thinking about, I'mdoing a bit of an integrity
audit.
Am I living that way?
And so sometimes we get tooquick to guilt and shame where
we ought to pause a little bitand say, it is just my
bifurcation being showcasedhere, right?
The concessions that I've made,um, the collusion that I'm
actively involved in, is thatbeing highlighted?
(10:44):
Yes.
Uh, because remember, the HolySpirit's job is never to sort of
shame us, condemn us, guilt us,but we have to be brought to
intersections where we candecide who do I want to be?
What are my ultimateallegiances at this moment?
The ultimate allegiance of thiswidow who knocked on the door
was to her cause.
(11:05):
There was no doubt about it.
She was going to keep knockingon the door.
And the judge, who he says hehad no respect for God nor for
people, he had to submit himselfto her perseverance.
Now, we can think about allthese amazing men and women of
the faith who just, whose nameswe know, the vast majority of
them whose names we do not know,who just decided, I'm going to
(11:30):
live this way, come what may,hell or high water.
And those people, their gentleboldness but moral clarity made
the difference for generationsafter them.
Melissa (11:41):
Yeah.
Bishop, I read the last line ofthis passage and it was kind of
chilling.
Um, it was Jesus' words.
Uh, it says, I tell you, uh, hetaught he's talking about
listen to what the unjust, we'regonna do that again.
I gotta find it.
So the last line says, I tellyou, he will quickly grant
(12:05):
justice to them.
And yet, when the Son of Mancomes, will he find faith on
earth?
I mean, absolutely chilling.
And so if we don't haveperseverance and people just
give up, well then what mightthe Christ find?
Bishop Wright (12:21):
Yeah.
Melissa (12:22):
When the Christ returns.
Bishop Wright (12:23):
There's a there's an old song.
I'm thinking a lot about songstoday.
There's an old song that says,Must Jesus bear the cross alone
and all the world go free?
Um, and so and so I hear Jesus'voice there um setting an
expectation, which is clear,which is, hey, I'm looking for
my partners.
Where are my partners?
(12:44):
And so if we can't think aboutthis any other way, then think
about it that way.
Must Jesus uh carry the crossalone?
And if I'm a friend of Jesus,especially in response to Jesus'
friendship offer to me, uh,wouldn't I want to, as best as I
can, walk beside Jesus, joinhim in his purposes, love how he
(13:05):
loved, even though we fall andwe fail and we stumble, of
course we do.
Of course we do.
But wouldn't I want to just layclaim to the fact that I want
to be partner?
And according to the story,when Jesus comes back and looks
for his partners, I do want tobe numbered among them, right?
I'm not saying I'm some kind ofspiritual super athlete.
I'm that's not what this textis about.
(13:26):
But it's saying uh myallegiance is such that I want
to be numbered on that day.
I want to, I mean, this iswhere I think we really move
into a maturity of faith, right?
So I'm not externally driven.
I'm not believing in Jesusbecause I don't want to go to
hell.
So therefore I have arelationship of fire insurance
(13:47):
with Jesus, right?
Some people have that, right?
Which is really driven by fear,or I'm not believing in Jesus
for all the good things I'mgonna get, right?
And some people have thatprosperity gospel mindset.
Uh I'm not believing in Jesusbecause I believe He'll protect
me from what it means to behuman, sometimes sickness,
sometimes all the no, I'm I'mbelieving in Jesus because that
is the way I've decided to livemy life, full stop settled.
(14:10):
And and that is that ismaturity now.
It's not based on externaldrivers, it's internally driven.
I have decided that this is myNorth Star.
I have decided this is thedirection I'm going.
And uh and I have decided thatthis is my frame to see the
world and my neighbor through.
(14:31):
And and it that's a beautifulthing, actually.
I I love to meet older peoplethese days, uh, and occasionally
a younger person who, becauseof ups and downs in life and all
arounds, uh, they have landed.
You know, I'm 61 now, and Ifind that I'm getting clearer
about some things, not grumpier,I hope, um, and not cynical and
(14:54):
not cantankerous, but you aregetting clearer about right and
wrong, about how I should treatpeople, right?
I mean, it's not negotiable atsome point.
At some point, the fact thatyou have dignity is settled.
And that even though wedisagree vehemently, perhaps
even, that I'm going to treatyou with dignity, respect, et
(15:15):
cetera.
I mean, certain things getsettled.
And so I think that one of thebest indicators of Christian
maturity is that this mattergets settled for us.
That I'm clear who I am andwhose I am, and I'm clear that
I'm joining Jesus in Jesus'purposes rather than trying to
manipulate Jesus into mypurposes.
(15:35):
And I think that is the bestindicator for Christian
maturity.
Melissa (15:40):
You used a fancy word a little bit ago, conviction.
Bishop Wright (15:44):
Yeah.
Melissa (15:44):
And um, there's some etymology of that word that
really talks about overcoming.
Bishop Wright (15:50):
Yeah.
Melissa (15:50):
And so, you know, one can be convicted and be an
absolute bullheaded jerk.
And yet you're not talkingabout that.
So we're talking aboutpersevering, but with
conviction, not just holding on,but leaning in.
Bishop Wright (16:04):
Right.
Well, Dr.
King said, I have decided thathate is too much to bear.
He was absolutely convictedthat love was the only way to
untangle all the mess that we'vemade of human community.
So he was not going to succumbto hate.
He's being clear, he'sconvicted.
He's seen the world, he's seenthe broadness and the depthness
(16:26):
and the depth of our brokenness.
And he has decided that hate inno set of circumstances is our
appropriate response or is anappropriate response for us who
follow Jesus.
Right?
And so we can lobby, we canmarch, we can uh we can do our
work nonviolently, we can do allthose sorts of things.
Like the, like the woman, uhthe widow at night, we're just
(16:47):
gonna keep on knocking becausewe're gonna keep on knocking
because we've decided thatknocking the man's door down and
taking him hostage is not partof what we do and who we are.
So, yeah, the conviction oncertain things that you have
dignity, that we will perseverein resisting evil.
Like the, it's like thebaptismal covenant, uh, that uh
(17:08):
that we will respect the dignityof every human being.
Um, that when we fall into sin,uh we're not trapped in our
sins, that we can always repentand return.
We're absolutely crystal clearthere.
Uh we're crystal clear that Iam not arbitrary and neither are
you.
I am not an accident of theuniverse, and neither are you.
In fact, the entire universe isnot an accident.
That the universe was born of abenevolent, loving mind.
(17:31):
We happen to call that mindGod.
But and that that matters, andif that matters, you matter and
I matter, and we should betreated in a certain way.
So, yeah, conviction on thoseprinciples I think is critical.
And convicted on principleslike every person in this world
and in this nation deserveshealth care.
(17:52):
And every person in this nationuh deserves freedom.
Uh, so today we have to say,before we close, uh, we rejoice
that the hostages, the 20 or sohostages, uh have been released,
uh, the Israeli hostages uhfrom the hands of Hamas.
And we need to rejoice alsothat there are Palestinians uh
(18:16):
who on today have also beenreleased.
And we pray to God that uh theconviction of a peaceful and
prosperity, uh prosperous goingforward for all parties included
will be what we're convictedabout uh as uh as nations of the
world, as great nations.
I hope that's what we'reconvicted about, which is that
(18:38):
no more of this terrorism uh andno more of this uh what appears
to have been uh almost ethniccleansing in Gaza, that there's
no more of this, um, that werule it all out of bounds on
every side, and that we figureout a way for Palestinians and
(18:58):
Jews and all kinds of uh formerenemies to live together in
mutual peace and mutualprosperity.
That actually is the convictionthe Bible conveys that all of
us would be able to sit underour own vine and fig tree uh and
have war no more about us uhand have peace for all of us.
Melissa (19:20):
Here, here, Bishop.
So I guess like Dory andFinding Nemo, we just got to
keep on swimming.
Bishop Wright (19:26):
You know, uh there's a sermon to be preached
uh on finding Nemo and onfinding Dory.
And of course, I love thoseshows because my kids were
little then and we watched them.
A lot of wonderful redeemingmessages there.
Perseverance is knowing what tohold on to uh and uh when to
never give up.
(19:47):
Uh and uh and Dory told us uhpoetically we have to sometimes
just keep on swimming.
And so I think this is what theuh the widow tells us just keep
on swimming and make room forGod.
Melissa (19:59):
Amen.
Bishop, thank you, and thankyou, listeners, for listening
to For People.
You can follow us on Instagramand Facebook at Bishop Rob
Wright, or by visitingwww.forpeople.digital.
Please subscribe, leave areview, and we'll be back with
you next week.
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