You Have Need of Endurance

Running is rarely pretty. I don’t do a ton of running, but I do like to dabble. Now, I will admit that as an inconsistent amateur runner, my running is especially not that pretty. But one of the important lessons I have learned from running is that the key to doing it well isn’t always to have perfect form or do things exactly right. Often what it takes to finish a run is to keep going even when you don’t feel like it. We call this “endurance.” Endurance is the ability to put one foot in front of the other when everything in you screams “Quit!” If you want to be a successful runner, or at least not a total failure, then you need endurance.

Those who take running more seriously will often talk about “walls.” These come when you are running and suddenly it feels like your whole body wants nothing more than to shut down. Having played high school sports, I can attest to this phenomenon. I remember soccer games in which some time during the second half I hit a wall. My legs felt like lead. My lungs burned. My mind was sluggish, and it felt like I was trying to run through an ocean of molasses. But I kept running anyway. Painfully. Slowly. More of a jog, really. But I kept going. And eventually I pushed through the wall. Eventually the body figures out, “This moron won’t stop, we better kick it into gear.” Eventually strength returns and your step lightens and you find yourself sprinting down the field once again. We call this endurance.

But it’s not just those who go out for a brisk morning jog or are training for a marathon who need endurance. Endurance is a Christian virtue, as stated succinctly by the author of Hebrews when he said, “You have need of endurance” (Hebrews 10:36). The longer I live my Christian life, the louder these five words ring in my ears, “You have need of endurance.” The Bible describes our life as a race (2 Timothy 4:7), and that race is more a marathon than a sprint. It’s a race that requires us to keep going even when we feel like sitting down or giving up. I want to take a few moments to consider a few different ways in which the experience of running and its need for endurance can help illustrate our Christian life and our need for endurance.

Our Fight with Sin Requires Endurance

The most important thing to get right in our fight against sin is to recognize that God’s Spirit must do the work. Right living is called the fruit of the Spirit, because it comes about by the work of the Spirit in our lives. When Paul lamented the power of the flesh in his life, it wasn’t his own grit that he turned to, but the power of the Spirit. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).

But once we have surrendered to God and have decided to live by the Spirit, the battle isn’t over. It’s only beginning. Once we have surrendered to God, we begin the difficult work of mortifying, or putting to death, our flesh. The Puritan John Owen, in his influential book The Mortification of Sin, writes, “The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, should also make it their business all of their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin.” Now, obviously this battle should be Spirit-empowered, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t grueling. In fact it will feel like death, which is why death is something to which Jesus calls His disciples (Luke 9:23), and something Paul reiterates (Galatians 5:24).

Sometimes that fight will seem exhausting. Sometimes holding back the same sinful tendencies will tire our weak wills. We may find ourselves tempted by the prospect of just giving up and making peace with our character flaws or our vices, focusing more on mitigation than on victory. But we can’t quit. For the sake of our souls, for the sake of those around us, and for the sake of Christ, we have need of endurance.

The Disappointments of Life Require Endurance

Jesus warns us in the Parable of the Sower that some people make a good start at Christianity, but when things get tough they are scorched by the sun. This suffering might be a disaster – a child dies, a friend betrays us in a deeply personal way, we lose work and don’t know where the mortgage payment will come from. But it need not always be something big. It might just be the steady buildup of frustrated ambitions, disappointing circumstances, or dreams that keep getting delayed until one day we realize they’re dead.

When we find ourselves disappointed with our life on this earth, it’s a good time to remember that we weren’t made for this earth. Abraham and the patriarchs were able to endure because they were looking forward to a city, whose builder and maker was God (Hebrews 11:13-16). When things don’t work out like we expect, and we are tempted to walk away from our responsibilities in a mixture of discouragement and anger, we should fix our eyes on eternity and hang on. We should look to the future and not quit, because hope in the future will give us endurance, and we have need of endurance.

The Responsibilities of Life Require Endurance

Sometimes life feels like running on a treadmill with someone slowly cranking up the speed against our will. Personally, I find that life often goes through busy seasons and calmer seasons. Things will die down for a bit, but eventually they will ramp back up and it feels like we have 26 hours worth of activity to cram into a 24 hour day. And yes, I know, just wait until I have teenagers with sports practice, music lessons, and friends. During the busy seasons of life we can find ourselves exhausted, ready to throw in the towel, and tempted to give up whatever that might look like.

As I mentioned in the intro, running isn’t always pretty. Sometimes in the middle of the busyness of our everyday responsibilities, our Christian life isn’t all we would like it to be. There’s groggy, rushed time in the Word. There’s a messy home. There’s exhaustion, and a frustration that we aren’t being Spirit-led or patient enough in our dealings with others. Now, none of this is to say that sin is okay. If we are unkind to others, there might need to be apologies. If we are skipping personal Bible reading, we should rearrange our schedules to make that happen. But at times success means sticking with it. Not falling over and giving up. Continuing to put one foot in front of the other as we do the things God has called us to, even when we’ve stopped feeling like doing them. Such focused determination, of course, means that we will have need of endurance.

So where are you in your race? Do you find yourself tired from battling sin, disappointed with how things have turned out, or just exhausted from the duties of life? Let me encourage you to endure. Endure through the power of God’s sustaining grace. Endure by looking to eternity and setting your heart on what is to come. Endure by continuing to move forward when everything in you screams quit.

May God grant us endurance, for we have need of endurance.

---

Ben Hicks is the Associate Pastor at Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis. This article originally appeared on his Substack.

---

Photo by Shengpengpeng Cai on Unsplash