Persevere. Endure. Don't quit.
Not only that, we can feel good about out troubles because we know that suffering develops endurance. Endurance develops character. Character develops hope. And, hope never disappoints us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
-Romans 5:3-5
We are running a marathon and we have hit mile 15. Over halfway there, but the end is still far off in the distance. We can either give up now, or push through to the end.
The desire to just “coast” has never been more strong. We only have 4-ish more months, which in reality is a very short period of time. I catch myself rationalizing the time away. Some times it is disguised as exclaiming how short of time we have left, while in my head I am secretly hoping it will go as fast as possible.
When I go on long runs and I hit the point where I still have quite a ways to go, but would much rather be home, usually the prideful stubborn side of me kicks in and I can just suck it up and finish. The faster I go, the faster I will get back!
So here we are with a couple of choices. We can either: 1.) suck it up and power through to the end or 2.) sit back and coast.
Honestly both of those options defeat the entire reason why we are here. I didn't come here to coast and I certainly didn't come here just to “deal with it”.
Therefore, the Holy Spirit says: “If you hear God's voice today, don't let your hearts become stubborn as you did during the rebellion in the time of testing in the desert.”
-Psalm 95:7
Our hearts can become so hard if we just power through – no regard to rest, to how we are doing. I was so prone to injury back home while running because I refused to train properly or eat proper nutrition. I increased my mileage rapidly so in the grand scheme of things, I had to take MORE time off because it poorly affected my body. That is not endurance or persistence. That is stubbornness. I saw a goal and the fast track to achieve it.
Let us run with endurance the race that is ahead of us…Keep your eyes on Jesus. He is the beginning and the goal of our faith
-Hebrews 12:1,2
HE is your goal and He is your prize. Yes, we are running a race, but that does not mean there is no joy in the running.
He is our rest.
If we fix our eyes on ourselves, we are going to drown. If we shut our eyes and run, we are are going to stumble and fall. If we focus on HIS gaze, not turning to the right or the left, we will find a refuge.
My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
-Psalm 62:1-2
Will you run? Will you endure? This is the time that matters. What you choose now will impact your race in the end. I am not just talking about the World Race, whether you like it or not, you are in this Race for the long run.
Your location may change, your friendships will come and go, you may discover new passions, get married, move back out on the mission field or work in corporate America, but you will remain running.
You may feel distant from the Lord, you may never have felt his presence so close, you may question you faith and your theology and wonder is it worth it? But you will remain running.
I may not be able to control the circumstance, the hardship or the trial, but I can choose how I run.
My brothers and sisters, you should be very happy when you experience many kinds of troubles, because you know that the testing of your faith will develop more endurance. Endure, so that your actions will be truly complete.
-James 1:2-3
