Starting is easy but keeping going right up to the finish is much more difficult.  Perseverance is a choice: convinced that it was right to start, and knowing it is right to complete the course, we choose to press on despite tiredness, weakness and hardship (James 1:2-4).  The expression 'keep your ... fervour' translates the Greek word which means 'to boil with heat and keep hot'.  In English we use the expression someone has 'gone off the boil' when their early enthusiasm has disappeared, and they are no longer putting much energy into what they started.

Christians need to be re-energised every day.  Like a kettle of water, we can only be kept hot if we stay close to the heat source.  'Spiritual fervour' means that we stay close to God because we are warmed by His love, inspired by His truth and empowered by His Spirit.  But if we move away from God assuming that we can manage life without Him, we will 'go off the boil' and lose our spiritual fervour becoming lukewarm to God’s love and useless in God's kingdom (Revelation 3:15-22).

Our spiritual fervour depends on the choices we make in response to our end-goal and the present difficulties.  The Christian's 'hope' means our confident expectation that we will be welcomed by Jesus when He calls us home. Knowing that our eternal future is assured encourages us to keep going (Hebrews 6:19-20). On the way, there may be many trials but God will only allow what He will enable us to bear (1 Corinthians 10:13).

So we need to be patient and keep going as we wait for His rescue (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).  As we do so, we must keep listening and talking to the Lord.  Faithful Bible reading will give us the confidence to pray, believing He will answer, and therefore willing to persist until the answer is given.  So do not go 'off the boil' by wandering from the Lord, losing sight of heaven or being discouraged in hardship. Jesus is waiting for you at the end of the race; so choose to keep going today in His strength (Hebrews 12:1-3).