A Critical Question
Many Christians may often struggle with the question of endurance: “Do we obediently endure so that we inherit the promises of God, or do we endure because those promises of God are ours?”
There is such a thing as doing something in order to gain something or doing something because the gain is already guaranteed. When it comes to the Christian faith, many promises are due to the Christian as guaranteed by God. Still, there is also an expectation to act in obedience to secure those promises. The more you read God’s Word, the more you will quickly realize that the choice is not “either-or” but “both-and.” What I mean is that for us as Christians, we have to endure the fact that only our God can save us in the end, and we have to endure because we are saved. We have absolute certainty because of the Scriptures that there are heavenly blessings. Thus, in our Christian walk, we endure so that we may inherit those heavenly blessings. Still, we are more motivated to endure because we are sure that because we belong to Christ, those heavenly blessings belong to us. Even in the exercise of our faith, God does not exercise faith on our behalf, for we have to take action. God supplies the grace to exercise our Christian faith and guarantees our inheritance. Still, He also expects that we work out our faith to receive the guarantee of our inheritance.
The Truth of God’s Word
Listen to both the words in the Old and New Testaments concerning the endurance that has already been secured for us;
“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted, but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:29-31).
“And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:27).
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
“…But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Timothy 1:12).
From these verses, it is evident that God is keen to ensure that we endure in obedience to the very end. In this sense, endurance is something other than what we work for. Still, it is a guaranteed gift that comes to full maturity as revealed through the New Testament, having been sealed by the blood of Jesus our Lord to us who have put our faith in Him. So, we may feel too weak to endure in the circumstances of our life as we live in obedience to our Lord, but let us have hope that in God’s power, He will cause us to endure in obedience as He has called us.
Listen also to these words that tell us that we must endure because it is the only guarantee for us to receive salvation in the end;
“And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:12-13).
“…If we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12).
“Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised” (Hebrews 10:35-36).
These verses speak to us the truth that in the Scriptures, endurance is also a Christian duty that we must pursue in order to obtain the blessings of our eternal hope. Christian duty is expected even when God empowers.
Our Convictions
Are we to assume that both of these truths, the first that assures that we shall endure because we are saved and the second that we must endure that we may be saved, as contradictions? We cannot think that because, on the one hand, we are called to exercise our Christian faith, and on the other, we are taught to marvel at the sovereignty of our God. Christian duty exists even in light of the nature and character of our God. The sovereign nature and character of our God are constant and true regardless of our actions or inaction, but that does not call us into inaction. The reason the Lord provides both of these truths for us is because God wants to teach us that we must avoid all sense of relying on ourselves but wholly look to Him as the source of our endurance. He wants us to understand that we cannot bear salvation by our endurance. Instead, it is a way of experiencing His grace.
On the other hand, the Christian duty to endurance is to portray the change that occurs in us when we receive Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), such that we have to display the endurance of hope. We are also significantly reminded of what a great reward is in heaven for us. Our enduring that comes from hope must set us looking intently and zealously for that which is set before us in order for us to be able to fulfill our duty in obedience to Christ. Lastly, we are called to exercise our Christian duty of endurance as a way of testing whether we are sure that the rewards of endurance that are guaranteed to us belong to us and whether we can claim them.
Our Response
Endurance is indeed a fruit of hope, a hope that looks to that which is promised to us by God. It is our Christian duty to endure, but we are not called to rely on our strength. God has also assured us that we shall endure, but He does not mean that we exercise inaction because of His guarantee. One thing is clear: that our hope is in God. God is the bedrock of our endurance that looks forward to heavenly hope as we seek to obey Him, and this is the truth that if we rely on our strength and power, we will soon grow faint and weary in our Christian walk. If we listen to the solutions the world gives, none are ever satisfying to cause us to endure to the very end. When things go wrong and nothing seems to work out, the solutions given by the world will always leave an empty void, but if our hope is in the sovereign God, we shall endure. Thus, let us exercise this endurance of hope.
