#SUFFERING PRODUCES ENDURANCE SERIES#

It is not a shelter from the storm it is the power to endure when the storms ravage. Paul knew that preparing for the suffering we cannot anticipate is pretty much what having faith in God is all about. I am not trying to put a happy face on this – that is not what this is about. Or, as Paul wrote, suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. You will not grow without the courage to endure. Endure this today so that you are strong enough to endure what may come tomorrow. My track coach may not be the source of this suffering but I have no doubt he would say to me now exactly what he told me then. It is reminiscent of the Psalmist’s assurance that ‘though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil for thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.’Įndurance is, it seems, the order of the day. Trust in God also comes because God’s hand guides and guards even through the suffering we endure that we neither want nor choose. Trust in God comes not just because God promises great things like the glory that in time will be revealed in us. In his own way and words, Paul is suggesting that God reigns in the good times and the bad.

Romans 3.4-5 reads: “Not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” This passage follows a line that says we boast in the hope of sharing the glory of God. This season of pandemic reminds me of the second kind of suffering – not the kind we choose to endure to build up stamina but the kind we must endure because we have no choice. And yet, endure it we did – day after excruciatingly painful day until our daughter regained consciousness.

What my wife and I endured waiting for her to wake up wasn’t something we were prepared for. I remember when my daughter nearly died after an accident that left her in a coma for almost an entire month. The hope, the expectation, was that if he could make me suffer often enough and long enough in these controlled circumstances, my body would be prepared to endure suffering for the greater good of the team when it mattered most.Īt other times suffering is foisted upon us by cruel circumstance, and endurance is less a strategy for upbuilding than a matter of surviving the vicissitudes of fate. Though I loved running, the program our coach put us through in training turned the running into something less than enjoyable – and more something we had to endure.

#SUFFERING PRODUCES ENDURANCE SERIES#

My track coach would ask me every day to endure a series of exercises, obstacles, and runs meant to stretch the limits of my stamina and endurance. The closer your relationship with God, in good times and bad, the more you’ll be able to endure.Īt times we are asked to endure suffering for our own upbuilding.

Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Supportīuilding endurance means building strength and stamina to endure challenging times.

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Suffering produces endurance