I know your works, even your labor and your patience, and that you are not able to endure evil people. You have also tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be liars. You also have patience and have endured hardship because of My name and have not grown weary. Rev. 2:2, 3.
Here Jesus uses two different Greek words to express the idea of "patient endurance" and "enduring hardship or difficulty." In a sense the words express two different ways of saying the same thing. But put the two concepts together, and we have the combined sense of moving on when you cannot advance anymore, or of continuing to carry a burden when the weight is pressing you down. It is a combination of the English word "patience" with the English word "endurance."
I remember a time when my family was visiting relatives in the Denver area. We decided to drive up the road to the top of Mount Evans, a 14,000-foot peak in plain sight outside the Mile-High City, Denver. The drive was beautiful, even though the weather at the top was blustery and cold. On the way down people expressed an interest in hiking a bit to get in closer touch with the scenery. Looking at a map I noticed a trail that left the road at the 12,500-foot mark, wandered for a mile or so, and returned to the road at the 11,500-foot mark.
I had a "brilliant" idea. We could park the car by the trailhead and hike down together to the next turnout in the road. Then I'd walk back up to the car and pick everyone up! I was in good physical shape, and it sounded like fun to me.
The hike down was great, the weather had warmed up a bit, and the wildflowers were spectacular. As we got in sight of the road I bade my family farewell and headed back up toward the place where I had parked the car. It was only 1,000 feet farther up, and I hurried so as not to keep the family waiting below. But the air was so thin and the trail was so steep that it was difficult to take 10 or 20 steps without stopping to gasp for air. My heart was pumping at 180 beats per minute even though I was walking at a snail's pace! Every step was a struggle, every inch gained by slow and arduous effort.
The easiest thing would have been a short siesta. But I patiently endured, knowing that my family was waiting below. The Christian life is sometimes like that. In the valleys we skip along and seem to make wonderful progress. But if we choose to come up to God's vision for us we must eventually ascend to the upper mists of the high mountains. We must go into the thin air of high places. And in the process, we learn what patient endurance is all about.
Lord, when things get tough today, help me keep my mind on You. Strengthen me to keep on keeping on. And help me endure the feelings of the moment and continue to do the right thing.
Here Jesus uses two different Greek words to express the idea of "patient endurance" and "enduring hardship or difficulty." In a sense the words express two different ways of saying the same thing. But put the two concepts together, and we have the combined sense of moving on when you cannot advance anymore, or of continuing to carry a burden when the weight is pressing you down. It is a combination of the English word "patience" with the English word "endurance."
I remember a time when my family was visiting relatives in the Denver area. We decided to drive up the road to the top of Mount Evans, a 14,000-foot peak in plain sight outside the Mile-High City, Denver. The drive was beautiful, even though the weather at the top was blustery and cold. On the way down people expressed an interest in hiking a bit to get in closer touch with the scenery. Looking at a map I noticed a trail that left the road at the 12,500-foot mark, wandered for a mile or so, and returned to the road at the 11,500-foot mark.
I had a "brilliant" idea. We could park the car by the trailhead and hike down together to the next turnout in the road. Then I'd walk back up to the car and pick everyone up! I was in good physical shape, and it sounded like fun to me.
The hike down was great, the weather had warmed up a bit, and the wildflowers were spectacular. As we got in sight of the road I bade my family farewell and headed back up toward the place where I had parked the car. It was only 1,000 feet farther up, and I hurried so as not to keep the family waiting below. But the air was so thin and the trail was so steep that it was difficult to take 10 or 20 steps without stopping to gasp for air. My heart was pumping at 180 beats per minute even though I was walking at a snail's pace! Every step was a struggle, every inch gained by slow and arduous effort.
The easiest thing would have been a short siesta. But I patiently endured, knowing that my family was waiting below. The Christian life is sometimes like that. In the valleys we skip along and seem to make wonderful progress. But if we choose to come up to God's vision for us we must eventually ascend to the upper mists of the high mountains. We must go into the thin air of high places. And in the process, we learn what patient endurance is all about.
Lord, when things get tough today, help me keep my mind on You. Strengthen me to keep on keeping on. And help me endure the feelings of the moment and continue to do the right thing.
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