Articles
“Spiritual Endurance”
“By your endurance you will gain your lives.”
(Luke 21:19)
Louis Zamperini was an Italian-American World War II officer who was shot down over the Pacific Ocean. But that was just the beginning of his trials. On his life raft, he was attacked by sharks, threatened with starvation, and fired at by Japanese aircraft. He was adrift forty-seven days before his boat reached land after a 2,000 mile-long journey, the longest ever recorded, when, instead of salvation, he was captured and tortured in a brutal prisoner of war camp. His story is told in Laura Hillenbrand’s book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, & Redemption (2010).
The Greek word hupomonē is sometimes translated “patience,” “endurance,” “resilience”, or “perseverance” because there is no single English word that fully captures its rich meaning. In secular Greek literature it was used to describe one who was forced into labor against his will but worked on, one who suffered the sting of grief but continued on, a soldier who fought a losing battle but fought on, or a plant growing in an inhospitable environment.
This kind of resilience is something all Christians need (Heb. 10:32-39). In fact, this word is used in the New Testament many times to describe Christians. It is connected with suffering (Rom. 5:3). Our commitment to Christ is tested when we encounter pain (2 Cor. 6:4) and persecution (2 Thess. 1:4). It is what we must have if we are to remain faithful unto death (Rev. 1:9; 3:10; 13:10). It is also connected with faith. When our faith is tested it produces “steadfastness” (Jas. 1:3). In a cyclical pattern, endurance perfects and strengthens our faith to endure difficulties in the future. This all leads to hope. Endurance produces character which produces “hope” (Rom. 5:3-4). Hope for a brighter future is what fuels endurance (Rom. 15:4-5; 1 Thess. 1:3). Endurance also brings joy. Beyond just hoping for a better future, we can live with joy and gratitude in the present despite the circumstances (Col. 1:11-12).
How can a person be joyful, possess such hope, and endure such trials with such faith? Because the most common use of hupomonē in the New Testament is in connection with the goal of glory. For the Christian, the greatest things are to come after this life (Rom. 2:7; Heb. 10:36; 12:1; 2 Tim. 2:10,12; Jas. 1:12; 5:11; etc.).
Jesus, preparing his followers for the destruction of Jerusalem, said, “By your endurance you will gain your lives.” (Lk. 21:19). But this endurance was no passive waiting or idle patience. Hard times provide the occasion to faithfully bear witness to the truth (Lk. 21:13; cf. 8:15; 18:1-8). Persecution can lead to the death of the body, but not the cessation of one’s life (Lk. 12:4-5), because at the heart of Christian resilience is the hope of resurrection.
Perseverance is not simply the patience which waits passively for the storm to pass. It is the spirit which stares down the storm. It is the spirit which bears difficulty, not with resignation, but with blazing hope because it knows glory is coming. Perseverance is not the grim patience that waits for the end but the radiant patience that hopes for a new beginning. It is the background upon which courage and glory are painted. It is what keeps one’s stubbornly, joyfully plodding on against the wind. It is what transforms the hardest trials into quests for victory.
Perseverance is that grit and determination within Christians in the first century that enabled them to publicly deny Caesar as Lord and affirm Jesus as Lord. It enabled Paul and Silas to not just endure being beaten with the absence of murmuring but to explode in songs of praise in the darkness of their jail cell (Acts 16:22-25). It is what empowered the apostles after being flogged for speaking in the name of Jesus to rejoice “that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name.” (Acts 5:40-42) You must persevere!
