For any worthy endeavor, confidence and the will to do are necessary in order to make even a start. Still greater application and persistency are required to attain the goal. The actual test of achievement is in holding the ground once it has been gained. If our position can be taken from us, we have no assured position. The ability to maintain good is proof of the understanding that good alone is power.
How clearly every true thinker has seen this need for steadfastness! Paul frequently exhorted followers of Christ Jesus to be unswerving in their adherence to the truth. He knew that only by steadfast overcoming are strength, confidence, and understanding gained; that only as he stood the test was the sterling temper of his faith proved. James pointed out the instability of "a double minded man." The Revelator heard the voice saying, "He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power." Only to such overcoming is given dominion through understanding. Mary Baker Eddy admonishes us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 261), "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts."
All these truly great thinkers learned steadfastness from the teaching of the Way-shower. Jesus' simple, profound statement of his eternal oneness with the Father expresses the reason for his confidence. Being fully convinced of his eternal coexistence with God, he was unmoved by any phases which evil pretended to assume. No matter how much benefit error promised, no matter how loud the argument or how real appearances seemed, error was to him only illusion. Convinced that because of his oneness with God the omnipotent Principle of the universe governed and directed him at all times, he was steadfast in his fearlessness.
