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Enduring “Instead, be very glad -- because these trials will make you partners with Christ in his suffering, and afterward you will have the wonderful joy of sharing His glory when it is displayed to all the world” (I Peter 4: 13) As we consider our own little world and look, more specifically, at our own circumstances, how easy it would be to ask the question: How long? If we were to put our life experiences on a scale with good times and joy on one side, and pain and sorrow on the other side, for most people, it seems, the scale would be over loaded on the side of pain and sorrow. And far too often we find ourselves wondering when our present circumstance will pass. When we consider our families it becomes almost impossible to find a season in our lives when some one was not overwhelmed with trials. We struggle in our family life and we struggle in the work place. And we find ourselves asking other questions. Why God? Why is there so much misery in the world? Why are good people having such a hard time? Why are people of faith praying and praying and somehow there seems to be no answer? The apostle Paul urges us to run the good race so that we can receive that crown that awaits us. But, do we really want that crown then—at sometime and someplace that we can not comprehend—or do we really want it now? These are legitimate questions that demand legitimate answers. Yet, it is impossible to answer them outside of the scope of faith. It is impossible to separate endurance from faith. How long can someone endure unless their patience is grounded on something greater than themselves? Too many of us have been conditioned to believe that the world rotates around us, and we fail to realize that we serve a mighty God who loves us so much that He gave us all we need (John 3:16). If God loves us and His response to His love for us is that He has given us everything we need, then we need to appropriate that gift. Perhaps it is so simple that we miss it. Our endurance can not be found in our own strength or within our present circumstances. It can not be found in the fact that an almighty God is not angry at us or hates us, but only in the fact that He loves us. It is in this love that our faith is grounded. It is in this love that our endurance is fueled. In the love of an almighty God who became man and suffered so that He can give us all that we need. As we struggle in the present and find ourselves many times unable to see any light at the end of the tunnel, we need to take a closer look within and see that indeed we have been given an amazing light, our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, allow me to see beyond my present crisis and focus on the fact that if you love me, you will not forsake me." Meditation: How many times has worry resolved our problems? Jorge L. Valdes, Ph.D.
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