Endurance is what empowers
us to finish well!
Someone recently
described life to me as a football game.
Football games
last for a total of sixty minutes and are divided into two halves of 30 minutes
and four quarters of
fifteen minutes. All of the game is
often lost or won in that last quarter!
As has been said before, it’s
never over until it’s over. This is true
in football as it is in life and especially the Christian life. In the last quarter of our life; how will we
finish? What often makes the difference
is endurance! Endurance is the ability or power of
enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way. It’s about giving your all and hanging in
there until the end! How do we endure in
order to finish the last quarter well? How do we keep that driving force to help us reach the finish line? To
reach the eternal prize and crown?
We
can endure by gaining encouragement from those who have gone on before us. See
Hebrews 12:1
All those of faith are spoken
about in Hebrews chapter 11: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and all
those who crossed the Red Sea out of Egypt
We
endure by keeping a single minded focus on Jesus. See
Hebrews 12:2
Here
is the secret of all success. Having a
single minded focus of what you’re after and trying to achieve. Distractions
and temptations abound. (See Parable of the Sower Matt 13:3-9; 18-23) Victory comes to
those who fix their eyes on Jesus by literally looking away from everything
else and only towards Jesus! (see Phil
3:8)
We endure by being on guard against nor
surprised by opposition. See Hebrews 12:3
Opposition
slows us and wears us down. It’s the
opposing forces in the Christian life that chip away at us outwardly and
inwardly brings us down. Consider the
opposition Jesus faced. It came first
from the governing religious authorities and then from the governing
government.
1
Peter 4:12-13 Dear
friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though
something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in
the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is
revealed.
Opposition
against you will come. It is opposition
against Christ in you. It comes at times
from those who are closest to you. Loved
ones, family and friends. Don’t be surprised but be on guard.
We can endure by grasping the severity
of our struggle against sin. See Hebrews 12:4
1
Peter 2:11 Dear
friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from
sinful desires, which war against your soul.
In
Hebrews 12;1 it is sin that entangles us and here in 1 Peter sin wars against the soul. Sin
is taken so lightly by our society. In
fact the line has been drawn so low today that no one trips over it any
more. But for God’s people running
towards the prize, the line is very high and the struggle is great. We must take sin seriously! There is nothing that knocks the wind out of
us more than sin.
The
sidelines of the race course are littered with those who have fallen away
because of their lack of struggle with
sin. They have given in to it and not
resisted it. This is the easy thing to
do. “Everybody else does…. So why
shouldn’t I?”
Lastly, we can endure by expecting to be
disciplined. See Hebrews 12:7
Discipline
is part of being in a family. Any parent
that does not discipline their child; does not love their child! The easy way for the parent is just to let
them go commenting “they’ll grow out of it”.
But that is false. Our society
today is on the brink of outright lawlessness and it is going to get worse
because of the lack of discipline! Our
society has banished the concept and is,
and will continue to pay the price for doing so. Rev. 3:19 Those
whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
If
God loves you and cares about you; He wants the best for you; He will
discipline you in order to move you towards living a life in your best
interest. Hardship is a part of God
moving you closer to Him.
Matthew
13:23 But
the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the
word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or
thirty times what was sown."
These
are the ones who hear and receive the truths of God and use them to keep their endurance
and are able to finish well!
Read: Matthew 13:1-23 & Hebrews 12:1-7
