Endurance can be a paradox. In order to develop more, you must exhaust what you have. That is certainly true in running. You don't gain better endurance by resting too much.
I wonder: is the same true with life in general? Is the only way that God can helps us learn to persevere by taking us to the end of ourselves? I realize that our endurance and perseverance are ultimately the result of His grace at work in us, but at the same time, unless we are at the end of ourselves, we humans have a notorious habit of trying to rely on our strength. Perhaps, then, this need to learn perseverance is part of why God allows difficulty and hardship in the life of believers.
"In this world, you will have trouble..." (John 16:33) says Jesus in the midst of His final discourse with the disciples before His crucifixion. This world is fallen, crises happen. Relationships fail, emotions cloud rational judgment, and decisions that should result in good unintentionally cause evil. We constantly find ourselves tested by the circumstances of life. We need endurance to push through the hardship and honor God in the process. We can only do that in one way: through Jesus. This fact is why Jesus precedes, "In this world you will have trouble," with "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace." In other words, for Christians, the source of our peace in trial and our strength to keep going in hardship comes not out of ourselves but from He who dwells within us.
The challenge that we face, that I face, is to rely on the grace of the indwelling Spirit instead of on my own strength. It is in that grace that I hope to trust this week.
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