Endurance is a word we Americans like to use to describe athletic activities. If you Google “endurance”, below is a snapshot of the results you’ll get, but what about Christian endurance?

America was always known as a Christian nation with Christian values. That all has changed in recent years as America, in Obama’s words, “Whatever we once were, we’re no longer a Christian nation. At least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.”

Christians in America today are facing increasing pressure to give up their faith, to cave to “societal norms”, and to accept what was once blasphemous sin as normal and healthy behavior.

Most Christians know the Bible verses about “endurance” and running the race, but these verses need to be more than catchphrases, inspirational sayings, and shallow KLOVE radio music. We need depth to Christianity. We need Christians who are not afraid of ridicule, hatred, and even death. We need Christians who endure in the purest sense of the word.

WHAT IS ENDURANCE?

Endurance is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “the ability to withstand hardship or adversity.”

History is chock full of real-life accounts of endurance. Ernest Shackleton and his ship Endurance are one example. Shackleton led a team of men and dogs to cross the entire Antarctic continent (2,000 miles)! The adventurers never met their goal, but they did get stuck in ice in the Weddell Sea for 11 months and were left to literally float on an iceberg, hoping to get to safety after their ship was consumed by shifting ice in the sea. The party split up in hopes that one half could reach help (by sailing in small ship boats, crossing mountains, scaling glaciers, and slogging through snowfields). In August 1916, the full crew was finally rescued. Their ordeal lasted from January 1915 to August 1916 and is an intense story of survival and endurance.

Alfred Lansing wrote an incredible account of Ernest Shackleton’s failed adventure. If you’re looking for a gripping book that you can’t put down, Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage is worth the read!

CHRISTIAN ENDURANCE – BIBLICAL EXAMPLES

Let’s travel back in time waaaaayyyy past 1915 to ancient Israel. There were some incredible men of valor who had amazing endurance – both physically and religiously. They were called David’s mighty men.

2 Samuel 23 tells their stories, but I’ll give you a snapshot of a few of them:

Eleazar was one of David’s three main mighty men, and in a battle with the Philistines, all the Israelite men fled, but Eleazar “arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder” (2 Samuel 23:9-10, NKJV).
Shammah was another of the three mighty men. “The Philistines had gathered together into a troop” around a field of lentils, and again, the Israelite men fled. But Shammah “stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory” (2 Samuel 23:11-12, NKJV).
And finally, Josheb-Basshebeth was the chief among the captains, and “he was called Adino the Eznite, because he had killed eight hundred men at one time” (2 Samuel 23: 8b, NKJV).

These men were courageous, unwavering, and enduring no matter how hard the battle was. That is an example to Christians of how we are to act. We must be enduring, tough warriors who don’t give up in the spiritual battle.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2, NKJV).

Most Christians have heard their pastor tell them they are not in a little sprint of religion. They are in a marathon – a long run spanning the rest of your life, starting at the moment of salvation, and you can’t quit. You have to endure.

LOVE THAT DOESN’T GROW COLD

Christian endurance ties right into the biblical expression of love gone cold.

“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12, NKJV).

As the world continues to spiral into more sin and evil, Christians will be dragged down. Without a doubt, you’ve seen prominent Christian celebrities, singers, and preachers publicly denounce their faith. I’ve seen my own friends reel in shock, exclaiming, “How could such a godly Christian do this? I looked up to them! I read their books! I listened to their music! I thought they were righteous.”

My friends are right to be shocked and sad. Anyone who professes to be a Christian should try their utmost to live out their faith. However, when Jesus says “many will grow cold”, He is “showing that they are professors only and not truly born again” (Got Questions). The so-called Christians who turn their back on God were not truly saved in the first place if they continue to deny God.

“But those who endure and stand firm in the faith, despite incitements to do otherwise, are showing that they are genuine children of God ‘who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed int he last time’ (1 Peter 1:5, ESV)” (Got Questions).

HOW TO HAVE CHRISTIAN ENDURANCE

With all this talk about endurance and not giving up, we aren’t just told, “you’re going to go through tough times, but don’t worry – you’ll get through it just fine.” No… we’re told HOW to endure.

TYPES OF ENDURANCE

There are many different types of hardships each Christian will have to face. Some of us will have an easy life with only a few sneers and hurtful remarks regarding our faith. Others of us will be starved, imprisoned, tortured, or killed. We might have our businesses taken away. We might have family members taken away. All of this is horrible and atrocious. Are we willing to endure?

“There is only one way we can run the endurance race successfully and it can be summarized into this one phrase, ‘Looking unto Jesus.’ If we have our eyes fixed on Jesus and we are following the example of His overcoming life, we are going to endure until the end. However, if our eyes are not riveted on Jesus, no matter our profession, we will not endure to the end (Steps to Life).

Let’s look at a few examples of Christian trials and endurance.

CHRISTIAN ENDURANCE: PERSECUTION

Jesus warns us saying, “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:21-22, NKJV).

People will hate us. Governments and whole countries will hate us. It’s a hard thing to face, but Jesus again gives us hope.

“There whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33, NKJV).

Our job is simply to endure patiently, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, confessing Him before men, and trusting that He will save us whether in this life or in death when we are in Heaven with Him.

CHRISTIAN ENDURANCE: HATED BY THE CULTURE

“Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him” (1 John 3:1, NKJV).

The world (the culture) CRUCIFIED Jesus. Sin caused their eyes to be blinded so that, even as He walked and lived among them and healed their sick and raised their dead, they didn’t know Him.

In light of this, it makes sense that the people in the culture will hate Christians also because they hated Jesus. They will kill Christians because they first killed Jesus. They will try to silence Christianity and churches because they first tried to silence Jesus.

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1:2-3, NKJV).

Even in hatred and sorrow, Christians can still find joy because we know why people hate and persecute us.

CHRISTIAN ENDURANCE: CULTURAL SIN

Do you ever feel weighed down by the sin all around you? When you turn the news on, and you see the latest deluge of sad stories, horrible abuse, and world power edging ever closer to domination, do you feel like you’d rather just go to Heaven and be done with it?

I do. But we’re not the only ones to have felt that way.

Peter writes about “righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) (2 Peter 2:7-8, NKJV).

Lot lived in Sodom and Gomorrah, two of the most wicked cities mentioned in the Old Testament, and they were consequentially destroyed by fire from Heaven because of their atrocious sins. Lot was delivered because of his righteousness and at Abraham’s request.

Daniel is yet another biblical example of a righteous (young) man refusing cultural sins and being blessed by God. In Daniel 1, the Old Testament records the capture of Daniel and several other young, Jewish men who were afterward made eunuchs in the Babylonian king’s palace. Daniel was a Jew and “purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself” (Daniel 1:8, NKJV).

His request was granted for a trial period to make sure he and his fellow captives would remain healthy, and at the end of 10 days, they were healthier than the other young men who ate the king’s food (Daniel 1:15).

“As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams” (Daniel 1:17, NKJV).

Daniel would go on to defy another king’s order of idolatry and survive being fed to ravenous lions. His three friends would defy royal orders to worship the king and no other god, and they too survived being thrown in a furnace. Their obedience to God led to a great witness of faithfulness in a pagan culture that wanted them dead.

The sins of our culture today include LGBTQ+, the legalization of homosexual marriage, young people bypassing marriage and hooking up or shacking up, divorce, adultery, and much more.

One thing I want to make super clear: if you have done any of the sins listed in the Bible, there is forgiveness and healing if you are repentant. There is nothing that can keep you from God’s saving grace. However, we still have to talk about these sins and why they are wrong because America is quickly losing any sense of moral direction.

Paul writes eloquently when he says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, NKJV).

We condemn sin, and we educate about it, but there is forgiveness beyond the bounds of human comprehension.

Bringing it full circle with endurance, Christians have to live in a world where the sins listed above (and more) are embraced, accepted, and normalized. We move the Overton Window at every chance we get, and Christians have to take a stand. We can’t keep moving with the culture. We have to stand on the Bible with unwavering endurance, no matter if we are ignored or run over by the culture. We do not account to the culture. We report to God, and that means if we are following His will, we will be just fine, regardless of the cultural sandstorm around us.

CONCLUSION

As we look at the many types of cultural sin and the persecution Christians throughout history have faced, it’s so important that Christians stand firm in their faith. It’s so important for us to have endurance and not to give up.

If we give up, what do we have? But if we persevere, we win the prize of eternity with Jesus.

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Christian Endurance in America Today: Take Your Stand Now