The Virtues of Romans 5:3-4 – Part 1: Endurance

Endurance

“We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance,  endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (CEB).

Endurance was celebrated by moral philosophers of antiquity as one of the manliest of virtues. The ability to persist under adversity and hardship were marks of masculine and even kingly character. We celebrate endurance in our own culture in many ways, such as the accolades offered to endurance marathoners, or memorializing those who have overcome great pain and anguish in the course of their lives. There is something inherently noble about those who have kept the faith, fought the good fight, walked the line with Christ, and finished the race in the midst of external pressure, internal struggle, personal injury, constant temptation, and even self-doubt. The fact is that the Christian life is not a sprint, it’s an ultra- distance marathon; or sometimes like partaking of an ultra-marathon obstacle course while being chased by sharks on land wearing flipping laser beams on their heads. There are some great stations along the way that can refresh us in the often perilous journey towards the New Jerusalem – hopefully every Sunday service, our family, and Christian friends – but that does not diminish the genuine struggle we face along the way. What gives us the impetus to keep going is seeing that the end is drawing closer. And our end is coming, either the Lord returns, or we walk under the veil of death, but either way, at the end of it, we will see the Holy City of the New Jerusalem, and enjoy an everlasting intimacy with God (Revelation 21–22).

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard the story of the American distance swimmer Florence Chadwick, but it’s a good story about endurance. In 1952, Chadwick attempted to become the first woman to swim the twenty plus miles across the Catalina Channel from Catalina Island to Palos Verde on the American west coast. Due the threat of surrounding sharks, cold waters, and a blanket of fog, she gave up the swim with less than a mile to go. The fog meant that she was unable to see where she was going and did not feel like she was making any progress. She could not see that she was getting nearer to her goal. So she quit the race. Afterwards she told reports, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I know I could have made it.” However, only two months later, Chadwick tried again, this time she made it across the channel. How true it is, that we can only finish a race if we can see the end. For Christians, our endurance comes from (among other things) the fact that they can see the end, the majestic vision of God dwelling with his people, and this is the end we strive towards day by day, stepping out in faith, one foot after another, ebbing ever closer to our eternal home.