“I’m just not good at math.”

I can’t count the number of times those words have escaped my lips. At some point in my schooling, I decided that math was hard, and I had learned as much of it as I was ever going to learn. I had hit the saturation point. There was no more room in my cramped brain for advanced algebra, imaginary numbers or calculus formulas. And so, when that period rolled around every day, I had an excuse for allowing my attention to wander, for staring at my page without ever touching my pencil—and for earning poor grades on my report cards.

Fast-forward a few years. I teach English for a living. I enjoy that subject, and it was never a challenge in school. Through the last few years, I’ve come to learn that not all of my students feel the same way about English as I do. If I had a dollar for every time someone has told me, “I’m just not good at English,” I could buy us both a Starbucks coffee.

We have all thought from time to time, I’m just not good at [insert challenging task here]. But what is the attitude behind that admission? A deeper examination illustrates a vital lesson that God wants us all to learn in this physical life.

Mr. Armstrong wrote about this aspect of character in his booklet, The Seven Laws of Success:

“Yes, nine in 10, at least once or twice in a lifetime, come to the place where they appear to be totally defeated! All is lost!—apparently, that is. They give up and quit, when just a little more determined hanging on, just a little more faith and perseverance—just a little more stick-to-it-iveness—would have turned apparent certain failure into glorious success.”

The examples he provided were heavy, life-altering trials and challenges. He spoke of a well-known leader in the automobile industry who hit rock bottom after the stock market crash in 1920 and, seeing no other alternative, took his own life. Mr. Armstrong recounted his own personal struggles with several different business ventures; each time, the rug was pulled out from underneath him before his business could really thrive.

It would be pathetic to compare my personal struggle with numbers to any of those massive trials. Yet … the same lesson that he drew from these seemingly impassable obstacles applies to the attitude behind my statement: “I’m just not good at math.”

With my failure-soaked admission, I had an excuse for subpar grades. I had justified my own lack of effort. I’ll never be any good at it, so why waste the time?

Perseverance. Stick-to-it-iveness. Just a little more determined hanging on. I lacked the self-discipline to push through what challenged me. In junior year, I came across a teacher more stubborn than I was, who metaphorically grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and said, “You’re not bad at math; you have given up on math!”

He was right. At some point, math became a challenge. English was easy; math was hard. I was good at English; I wasn’t good at math. The logic seemed sound to my immature mind. That teacher saw that I lacked the perseverance to push through the things that were harder for me to grasp. At the first sign of difficulty, I gave up. Because I refused to persevere, I doomed myself to remaining bad at something forever.

How easily do you give up?

God has given us all different talents and abilities, but that doesn’t mean He wants us to give up on everything else. Often, when things come naturally to us, we aren’t forced to develop character. The lessons come from the obstacles. The character comes from the trials.

Don’t spend your time dwelling on how “bad” you are at something. That negative attitude will condemn you to failure at that particular thing. Instead, ask yourself: “How close to success am I?”

I may or may not have taken that from the front of a self-help vhs in a thrift store, but think about it for a minute. Read what Mr. Armstrong wrote again, “They give up and quit, when just a little more determined hanging on, just a little more faith and perseverance—just a little more stick-to-it-iveness—would have turned apparent certain failure into glorious success.” How close are you to a breakthrough? Will you give up when just a little more perseverance may bring success?

If someone had told me, “James, you’re going to understand math tomorrow. If you just work hard for one more day, tomorrow you will be good at math,” I’m sure I would have had the discipline to push for one more day.

That is the way to approach challenges. That is how to push through obstacles. Perseverance is a law of success; that success can be in something as simple as math homework or in something as important as our Christian calling. I have seen that lack of perseverance in far more important areas of my own life and have had to work to apply this lesson. Your own challenges may be far greater than academic struggles. But what if you are just one more day away from success? What if one more day of hard work is what separates you from overcoming? Could you persevere for one more day?

In Matthew 24:13, Jesus said, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” The Greek word for endure can also mean “to persevere.” The same Greek word is used in other scriptures like Matthew 10:22; Mark 13:13; Romans 12:12; and many others—all of which deal with this law of perseverance.

Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:12, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him ….” Suffer is the same word! He was saying that if we persevere, we will reign with Christ!

This is much bigger than just putting effort into a school subject. Learning to apply the law of perseverance is part of our daily battle to become more like God.

God wants us to learn and apply the law of perseverance in our lives. He gives us smaller, physical ways to put it into practice, to prepare us for weightier trials and more imposing challenges. Our ability to incorporate this law of success into our individual lives will have eternal consequences.

So take advantage of the easier challenges. Don’t hide behind the I’m just not good at that excuse. It’s a self-justification for failure. And God doesn’t intend for any of us to fail (2 Peter 3:9).

Shed the negativity. How close to success are you?