Persevering Through the Mission
Let’s begin with the story of a man who followed orders with remarkable perseverance.
Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda served as an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. In December 1944, he was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines, where his commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, gave him strict orders: he was never to surrender or take his own life. Taniguchi assured him, “Whatever happens, we’ll come back for you.”
By early 1945, however, Japanese forces were being overrun by U.S. and Philippine troops on the island. Most of Onoda’s comrades were either killed or surrendered. Only Onoda and three others remained. From the mountains, they launched guerrilla attacks against local police and villagers, determined to continue their mission.
In October 1945, leaflets were dropped across the island announcing Japan’s surrender: “The war ended on August 15. Come down from the mountains.” Convinced this was enemy propaganda, Onoda and his men dismissed the message and carried on fighting.
In 1950, one of the soldiers deserted and surrendered to Filipino forces. Two years later, aircraft dropped letters and family photographs urging the remaining three men to give up. Yet they refused, believing that if the war had truly ended, their commanding officer would return for them.
By 1972, the last of Onoda’s companions had been killed in clashes, leaving him completely alone. Then, in 1974—three decades after he first arrived on Lubang—Onoda encountered a young Japanese adventurer, Norio Suzuki, who had set out specifically to find him. Suzuki urged him to return home, but Onoda insisted he could not surrender without direct orders from his commanding officer.
Suzuki returned to Japan with photographs as proof that Onoda was still alive. The government then located Major Taniguchi, who had long since retired and become a bookseller. In March 1974, Taniguchi traveled to Lubang Island, met Onoda face-to-face, and at last fulfilled the promise he had made thirty years earlier.
Formally relieved of duty, Onoda surrendered. He handed over his sword, rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition, and several hand grenades. The Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos, granted him a full pardon, and Onoda finally returned to Japan—after nearly three decades of fighting a war that had long since ended.
Christians can draw a powerful lesson about perseverance from this story. When we confessed Jesus as Lord, we were entrusted with a mission. Just like any good mission, our “Commanding Officer” gave us a mission with clear goals, direct orders, and the assurance of reward.
The Goal
To understand our mission’s goal, we must revisit God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 22:18. Because Abraham obeyed God, the Lord promised to bless all nations through his offspring. The apostle Paul later affirmed that Jesus Christ is that offspring (Galatians 3:16).
Thus, the goal of the Christian mission is to make all nations know Jesus Christ, through whom they receive the blessing of salvation. Simply put, the goal is to shepherd nations to Christ.
The Orders
Paul compared Christians to soldiers whose aim is to please the one who enlisted them (2 Timothy 2:3–4). A soldier receives commands, not suggestions. Christ is our “Commanding Officer”, and He gave us this order: “Go … and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19–20). This is the Great Commission entrusted to every believer.
Unlike Onoda’s commander, who lacked authority over the nation he deployed his army to, Christ possesses all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). He holds power over all nations where He has dispatched us to spread the Gospel. By obeying His orders, we shepherd the nations, pointing them to the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ.
Life on the Mission
The world is our mission field. But what is life like on this mission field?
Trouble on the Mission Field
Every Christian soon realizes the mission is not without hardship. Trials and tribulations come in many forms. Some are personal; others affect the whole church. Jesus warned us: “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33).
From the beginning, the church of Christ has witnessed persecution. From Stephen, the first martyr stoned in Jerusalem by the apostate Jews, to the early Church persecuted by the Romans, to the Egyptian Coptic Christians beheaded by the Mediterranean Sea in February 2015, the church has always faced opposition. Alongside persecution come other trials such as poverty, disease, false accusations, among others. The Christian mission is not a simple one.
The word of faith gospel, which promises health and wealth without hardships, is antithetical to this reality. A Christian life free of trials breeds complacency, which destroys (Proverbs 1:32). But our Master both warned us of hardships ahead and assured us of His victory.
“In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Onoda was ordered not to surrender or to take his life. In the same way, we are to persevere. Perseverance is continuing steadfastly in faith and obedience despite trials. Scripture repeatedly calls believers to this path:
“Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:21–22).
“Blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trial” (James 1:12).
“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1–3).
“If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel” (Colossians 1:21–23).
The apostles expected Christians to endure tribulations, remain steadfast, keep running the race, and continue in the faith. Perseverance is loyalty to Christ, and it refines and proves the genuineness of our faith.
"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:6–7, ESV).
It is important to acknowledge the challenges of maintaining faith through prolonged tribulation, especially when others choose to give in. Scripture and church history provide many examples.
Job, described as a righteous man, lost his children, wealth, and health in a season of immense and prolonged suffering. His wife urged him to curse God and die, but Job refused and remained faithful.
Polycarp of Smyrna, at around eighty-six years of age, was arrested during the persecution under Emperor Antoninus Pius. The Roman proconsul urged him to renounce Christ, appealing to his old age and asking him to swear by the emperor’s genius. Polycarp famously replied, “Eighty and six years have I served Christ, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” Many Christians recanted Christ during this time of persecution.
In the twentieth century, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian, endured imprisonment and suffering before being executed for his resistance to the Nazi regime. Despite warnings from fellow Christians not to return to Germany, he chose faithfulness over compromise. Many Christians stayed silent to the evil of the Nazi regime.
The pressure to give in certainly comes from the world but can also come from within the church. Yet, like these faithful witnesses, we too must decide to persevere through the mission until the end. The best life awaits when the mission is complete, when Christ returns and makes all things new. Until then, we must decide to be faithful under hardship.
The Christian Is Not Alone
Onoda’s commander was absent from the battlefield, and eventually his fellow soldiers left him. But Jesus promised never to leave us. He asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit, another Helper, who is with us forever so that we are not as orphans on the mission (John 14:15–26).
The Spirit teaches, guides, and reminds us of our orders. The body of Christ, the church, gives us fellowship and encouragement as we serve together on the mission.
Higher Living Standards
Christ sets a higher standard for His soldiers. He has commanded us not to conform to the world but to be transformed by the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2).
This means rejecting prevailing worldly ideologies—whether critical theory, gender ideologies, pluralism, secular humanism, materialism, New Age spirituality and others—and being shaped instead by God’s Word. It means loving our enemies, forgiving those who wrong us, and shining as lights in a dark world—a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.
It's disheartening to see some in the church capitulate to the world, not just accepting its ways, but also endorsing and adopting them. It is about such that the Prophet Isaiah lamented: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20, ESV). They have permitted hatred of neighbors, sexual perversions and love of money, standards by which the world lives. Make up your mind to be set apart.
The World Hates Us
Jesus prayed for His disciples, saying:
“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world… They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world… As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (John 17:14–18, ESV).
We must be prepared for rejection and opposition. But the truth of God’s Word, which equips us to persevere, also sanctifies us.
Keep the Communication Lines Open
Suppose Onoda had possessed satellite radio, he could have confirmed the war’s end and spared himself thirty years of struggle for a war that had already ended. He would have called home to confirm the details in the dropped leaflets. Christians, however, have something better: direct access to God in prayer.
Prayer keeps us connected to our Commander. We can bring Him our needs, confirm our mission, and receive strength for the task. Even when we don’t know how to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God (Romans 8:26–27).
We also keep communication open by reading God’s Word, which contains all our orders. How often do we consult it to check our mission’s goals and directions?
Make up your mind to pray and read the word of God and keep these lines of communication open with the Lord.
Jesus Will Return
Onoda's commander promised to come back for him, whatever the cost, but forgot him for thirty-three years. But Jesus has promised to come back for us, and His word is faithful and true.
“I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3 ESV).
Whether at His second coming or at the moment of our death, whichever may come first, Jesus will return for His people. We must be ready and busy with our Master’s work. He warned us to stay alert: “Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!” (Revelation 16:15).
Reward
As previously mentioned, every mission has objectives, orders, and rewards. For Christians, our reward comes from Christ Himself:
“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done” (Revelation 22:12, NIV).
The question is, what are we doing with the mission entrusted to us? Will we hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” or will we be rebuked as “wicked and lazy”?
My prayer is that we will all fight the good fight, keep the faith, and finish the race. Let us make up our minds to persevere through the mission.
Amen
