Godly Endurance

To endure means to stand, to tolerate and to continue. Over the course of our adult lives we have many opportunities to endure. We can endure hardships, we can endure through relationships if they our not healthy. We can endure pain and suffering. It is sad but true that if we have had to endure something in life it has probably not been a pleasant experience for us. This is not always the case but more often than not this would hold true. As Christians we should not only be equipped to endure but more importantly to turn a hard experience into something with which to glorify God. I have often found myself having to endure something. To endure my own shortcomings as it relates to decision making sometimes. To endure the disappointment I have felt when I have let others who are important to me down. Now most of us are uncomfortable being honest about it, but one of the common threads that runs through the fabric of all human beings in my opinion, is their ability to sometimes be the victims of their own bad decision making. Most of us love to discuss and brag about our accomplishments, but we are silent about our errors in life and maybe rightfully so. But endurance involves laying aside every sin and hindrance that burdens us, and from the beginning of time since Adam and Eve we have all been burdened with the problem of enduring sin. We did not ask for it, we did not seek it out but it is a very real consequence for the human experience and so we must endure it our entire adult lives.

So endurance is usually centered around and activity that is a unpleasant experience for us. But for us to have success at enduring, we need to surround ourselves with a group of fellow human beings who are willing to encourage us. One of the most pleasant experiences I get out of belonging to a church family is the fellowship we exchange on a weekly basis. Theses are people who are not my blood relatives but I have a family like relationship with. They have a front page seat to the activities of my life and so when there have been times where I was experiencing a situation in my life that required encouragement, they would be first in line to encourage me if the situation required it. We all occasionally need someone to say, "hey you did a great job." "I will be praying for you and your family." These words of encouragement from family and friends can often times make all the difference between success and failure in our lives. These carefully chosen words can help us endure.

The apostle Paul was always a good encourager. It was one of the most prominent qualities he exhibited as an spreader of the good news or the gospel. During the early years of the christian movement we know they were often times being persecuted by the Romans, and their fellow Jews the Pharisees and the Sadducee's. So early christian had to have the ability to endure. It was often times compared to being in athletics. Athletes had to train to build up their strentgh and stamina. Their eating was regimented, their sleeping as regimented, and their bodies were whipped into shape on a daily basis so they could perform to there highest capacity. We have that same responsibilities as Christian's, God expects no less of us so we may also endure this christian race.

Finally in a letter to Timothy Paul wrote instructions on what it takes to endure. It says "And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hard working farmer must be first to partake of the crops..... remember.... Jesus Christ.....I endure all for the sake of the elect.... If we endure, we shall also reign with him." So he makes it clear what is required of us as Christians we must train to equips ourselves to endure. Some would say even to the extent that our lord and savior did, which was all the way to the cross.