What Does It Mean To Endure?

We are tired. We are frustrated. We are over it. So, what does it mean to endure? What does it mean to wait with patience through a season like we're in? Perhaps the most memorable call to endurance is found in Hebrews 12.

In the previous chapter the writer recounts a number of men and women in Israel's history who were faithful and fruitful. He famously calls them "a cloud of witnesses."

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted"

Hebrews 12:1-3

According to the writer of Hebrews, Christian endurance is about three things: 

Endurance is about laying aside every weight. Why? Because weight makes us weary. Endurance is about pressing on even when we are weak. This does not mean we don't rest or admit our limits. The call to endure is not a call to never stop. In fact enduring is precisely about resting in Christ and confessing your weaknesses honestly and regularly. Enduring is about letting go of the things you're not supposed to be doing. Using the illustration of a runner in a race, Hebrews 12 makes it clear that any and all unnecessary weight should be removed so that the athlete (or the follower of Jesus) can optimally preform. Like Hebrews, Paul often talks about the Christian life like a race. In life, many things weigh us down: people's expectations, painful experiences, our own self doubt and shame. Running a race is hard enough, in order to run far and fast an athlete leaves behind all unnecessary burdens. And most of what is causing you fatigue and weariness, and therefore to neglect the call to endure is unnecessary weight. The burdens of shame and expectation and fear and hustle ... they're crushing you. Most of what weighs us down, Jesus never told us to carry. After all he said,"my yolk is easy and my burden is light." We are weighed down, and in order to endure we must lay aside unnecessary weight.

Endurance is also about laying aside sin that clings so closely. One of the particular burdens which weighs us down and cripples our endurance is sin. Each and every sin trips us up and leads to destruction. Sin never helps you. Sin, the writer says, clings closely or easily entangles. Sin is the heaviest weight that hinder us. Sin is often ... to carry the illustration ... an attempt to cut corners in the race. Sin tells us we can and should do as we please. In other words sin tell us we don't have to wait, we don't have to suffer, we don't have to endure. Sin tells us the burdens of holiness and righteousness and obedience can be laid aside. It tells us those are the things which are weighing us down. You see? Sin gaslights us, telling us to stop struggling. In particular when suffering comes we distract ourselves with instant gratification ... we choose what taste good, feels good, and makes us look good ... rather than what is good. Often times, that's sin. We don't need a quick fix, we need to trust the Lord. So endurance is about laying aside sin and clinging closely to Christ.

Endurance is about running the race set before us. When unnecessary burdens and sin are laid aside, we can actually run the right way. Notice, there is a right way to run ... the race is set before us. We do not determine the course or the race, we run it. We do not decide what makes a good runner, we are called to run. Waiting with patience is a,"burning expectation in conformity with the divine plans" (Kittel). What we are waiting for and the way in which we are waiting are both informed by the desires and plans of the Lord. We do not choose our hope. We do not choose what feels hopeful to us. Rather, we endure when we run the race set before us ... we endure when we stay faithful to the one for whom we wait. The Lord has set hope before us, he is our hope, he waits with us ... and in order to endure we must live and hope and wait and suffer according to his will.

Endurance is about laying aside unnecessary wait.
Endurance is about laying aside sin.
Endurance is about running the race set before us.

And ultimately, it's about realizing we can do none of that on our own and Jesus did. He endured for us by laying aside everything but his Father's glory and won the race. And in the middle of all this, by grace we share in his victory.