One specific question keeps coming to me from our global online tribe: “Mark, the Bible tells me to endure, but my life is too hard. I am hopeless.”
My first reaction to that question is always thinking that it contains two parts of the answer: 1) Hope PRODUCES endurance; and 2) Endurance is the RESULT of hope.
That is the foundation behind our ability to endure in Christ.
But I do understand how difficult it is to remain connected and faithful to Christ month after month and year after year. And that’s a big problem because encouragement from friends and family will not always be present.
That means we must ask God to fill our ENDURANCE TANK.
We know that endurance comes from hope. The two of them are connected at the hip.
Enduring through OBEDIENCE on the way to HEAVEN generates the confidence we need to stay true to God while being buffeted by the storms of life.
Endurance comes to us as gift of the new covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus for those who look to him and look away from themselves in surrendered obedience to God.
Doing this regularly keeps a rhythmic cadence in our connection with Christ that continually renews our hope that we can and will endure.
We will endure to the end because God is sovereign and that keeps us away from trusting OURSELVES and thinking we can earn our heavenly rewards. We CANNOT. They were bought by Christ on Calvary.
We are called to ENDURE and that means we must be HOPEFUL. And the only way to be HOPEFUL is to blow up our love for the world and its allure.
I ask God to help me stay connected to him every day through my surrendered obedience so I can remain hopeful and endure the tests of life.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Are you holding onto hope in Christ and calling on God to help you endure on this side of the Heavenly divide?
“But he who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:13
