By His Strength, We Endure

By your endurance, you will gain your lives” - Luke 21:19

Whenever I look at verses like this, it all seems so backwards. How can enduring through pain produce life? How can something that seems so bad become such a good thing? Philippians 1:21 tells us that to live is Christ and to die is gain. It’s the endurance that brings life. It’s the sorrow that produces joy. And it’s the struggle that brings peace. These things to the plain eye don’t seem to make sense yet when you see it lived out, it’s so powerful.

 This world is bound to come to an end. Our God is coming back for His faithful followers. We have been promised hardship, struggle, and pain all for the sake of His name. But we are also told that the burden of the Lord is light. Yes, we must endure all He has called us to yet when we lean on Him and continue to chase after Him- it’s not as hard to be patient and endure.

However, these principles are in no way easy to actually apply and live out. Yesterday I hiked a 12,000 foot volcano in Guatemala and that experience can definitely bear witness to this. It was so difficult and enduring was so trying- I honestly thought I was going to die about ten million times. Nevertheless, the joy that comes at the top of that mountain is indescribable. Same goes for Jesus. The joy always comes in the morning. Endurance is no easy task, but it’s a task He has asked us to walk through and eventually conquer. And when we do it all looking and seeking first His face- somehow that ginormous beast of a volcano doesn’t look so scary anymore. It’s in His strength we make it over our mountains not our own. And it’s only by Him that we can endure with a confident hope because He has already won.