Forged By Endurance

Endurance is not punishment, it is preparation. Read that again. Endurance is not punishment, it is preparation. You might be reading this and be thinking to yourself, preparation for what? Exactly. Preparation for what. We never know how lessons of endurance will prepare us, exactly. Enduring in this life can take on many avenues of results. For example, I can follow the most stringent Ironman training program, feel as if I am in the best shape of my life, and still wreck my bike on the bike course and thus injure myself, incurring a slower time than desired. Or you can follow the best marathon training program that money can buy. You can hire all the best coaches. You can have your nutrition dialed in, just to have higher temperatures than expected, which results in a slower time. Or you can simply be pushing through the daily grind at work, at home, or in life to see where life takes you. Although, I would contend, we should not live aimless lives. The point is, that whatever we do in this life, endurance is not a punishment, it is preparation… for something. Implicit in the call of endurance is also the call for suffering. Have you ever sat through a 5th grade band concert? You endure it - some might say you suffer through it, but why do you sit through it? To support the 5th grader, or teacher, right? Have you ever had to endure through a trial in life? You might say that you had to suffer through that trial. However, suffering and enduring are not the same thing. They can be synonymous with each other, but not always. You can suffer, but not endure. For example, you could choose to suffer no longer through the 5th grade band concert, OR you can suffer and endure to the end. You can suffer through a trial in life, but not endure. A medical diagnosis. A friendship gone sour. A situation that did not go your way. In many cases you can exit to the left and call it a day. Shaping an endurance mindset takes deliberate and intentional focus. Sufferings in this life can lead to endurance. Endurance in this life can lead to the production of character. Character in this life can lead to hope. And hope in this life gives us life. Who is it that has not hope yet endures? Hope is what causes us to endure, with joy. Romans 5:3-5 (ESV) states “not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Endurance is not punishment, it is preparation. The suffering you had to endure last week. When you are trained by it and you use it for grounds to make tomorrow better, it will yield fruit. It will yield hope. And hope does not put us to shame - or does not disappoint. If you are suffering today, you are in some healthy Biblical company. Job, Joseph, David, Paul, and Jesus Christ Himself all suffered, but endured that suffering, which resulted in the formation of Christ-like character and hope. Let’s first examine the life of Job. Job embodies the extreme end of the faith journey only some go through in their lifetime. He was stripped of every worldly possession. His belongings, his children, his wealth, and so much more were suddenly just… gone. To make matters worse, Job had to deal with incredible sores on his own body, which lead to excruciating pain. He only had his friends and wife by his side. Even then, they were not that helpful when seeking to console him. In the midst of this unbearable trial, we see an exchanges between Job and Yahweh, Yahweh and Job, Job and his friends, Job’s friends and Job, Job and his wife, Job’s wife and Job. Ultimately, what do we see when it is all said and done? Job refused to curse God, and we see the example of a man who genuinely wrestled with Yahweh. Job exclaimed in Job 19:25, “I know that my Redeemer lives!” While the world (Job’s friends) encouraged Job to curse his God and die, Job refused to do so, even under the direct attack of satan himself. In the end, the Lord in His kindness restores Job to health, wealth, and blesses him even more than what he had had before. Job allowed the sufferings of this life to assist him in his endurance. His endurance produced character, a deeper understanding of his redeemer, and thus resulted in hope. A hope that does not disappoint or put us to shame. Think of the life of Joseph. Joseph was the beloved child of his father. He was gifted a coat of many colors, despised by his brothers, sold into slavery by his brothers, and unjustly imprisoned. Truly, his life is one that if you did not know how it would end up, you would be beyond frustrated by the sequence of events. Yet, again, we see a Biblical example of a man who stayed faithful to the Lord in every season of life. Even when he could have been tempted to sin in Potiphar’s house, he so intently sought to do what was right that he turned and ran from the woman of seduction, Potiphar’s wife. And because he chose not to sleep with Potiphar’s wife, she unjustly and wrongfully accused him, and he was thrown into prison.