Spiritual Endurance

The world is an absolutely cancerous place.

I intend for the word, “cancerous,” to stand out. I intend for this word to be prominent and for its many various meanings to come to the forefront of your mind.

No meaning, to my knowledge, could bring about any semblance of anything positive. It is a harmful, mutated, abnormality in any conceivable context. Including the condition of the world, that is, ever since the sin of Adam and Eve separated humanity from a right relationship with God the Father.

From this point onward, history has illuminated the depraved and corrupted Earth, with an uncountable number of horrific events which continuously move our planet farther and farther away from the perfect canvas from which God first painted. Our own lives are a testimony of innumerable trials faced and often have the common individual searching through the Barnes and Noble self-help book section seeking an answer to the question, “How can I endure?”

Dr. Roger Bannister once sought this answer under completely different circumstances. Roger Bannister was an incredible middle-distance track athlete who had many adorning achievements in his day.

However, his legacy stands as a monument to endurance because of one notable achievement. In 1954, he became the first human being to run a sub-four-minute mile. Many track enthusiasts are bewildered by this procurement because he did this despite having a low mileage training system and being virtually self-coached.

Saying this, my surprise was alleviated after examining some quotes by Roger Bannister. These quotes allowed me to look into the mindset of Roger Bannister and the mentality that he had developed in order to endure.

Roger Bannister once stated, “The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.”

As a track runner myself, this quote sends chills down my spine as very rarely do I hear anything this true about the sport of track and field. As a Christian, the words of Paul resound even louder.

In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul offers insight in what it means to endure as a Christian. He affirms, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” To make it simpler. The key to spiritual endurance is “hope.”

Upon the reception of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Christians inherit a very special hope. The Apostle Paul often refers to this hope as a prize.

In 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, Paul teaches, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.”

We, as Christians, have the hope of Heaven eternal. An enriching hope that can constantly reassure us, that no matter what this fleshly, rotten, corruptible world brings, that we have the treasure of the God’s glory as our inheritance. He offers His peace and joy to sustain us on the journey home.

This peace and joy are reflected upon by the Psalmist himself when he writes, ^“I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8). This inheritance I am referring to is not achieved by anything that we did, but by Christ alone, so that no man boasts.

Saying this, friends as you move throughout your week, living in the grace of God, pray with a heart of thanksgiving for the hope that God has given to us freely. An enduring hope that carries us forward closer and closer to the Father through Christ Jesus.

To close, if any reader sees this devotion and does not know that hope of which I speak and have not believed on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I encourage you to reach out to me through the email provided on my contact page and allow me to guide you through what the Bible says about this wonderful gift of Jesus.

God bless and thank you for viewership!