The Grace to Endure

I just started reading a book by John Piper called Future Grace. I am only a little ways in, but it's good, as all John Piper's books are, of course. Briefly, this book is about what it looks like for Christians to live obedient, fruitful lives (a theme I am always wanting to learn more about if you haven't noticed yet). The premise of this book is that we are obedient to God, not because of gratitude, but because of love, and that we obey not becuase of his faithfulness in the past, but because we have faith in the grace he will give us in the future. Piper, of course, does not say that God's past grace is unimportant or that we should not be thankful. He only points out that we will never continue to be obedient in the future if we don't have faith in God's future grace that he will provide both on this earth and in heaven. Thankfulness for the past is not enough to stir morality is pitiful sinners. Like I said, it's good. I am giving you this intro on the book in case I share anything else from it over these next few weeks or months.

So I was reading Piper's chapter on anxiety in the book (because apparently my breathing troubles might be caused by anxiety...yuck...want to get that sin out of my life ASAP), and I stumbled across this beautiful, intriguing phrase..."the grace to endure." Piper was talking about the fear of public speaking that haunted him throughout his childhood and into college. It seems almost funny now, as he is one of the most well known pastors in America, but he was plagued by anxiety about speaking in public for years and years. Like shaky voice, shaky hands, all the kids in the class and the teacher felt bad for him kind of anxiety. And he said he prayed hundreds of prayers for help during those years and God only provided the grace to endure...

The grace to endure. What a humbling, intriguing idea. Sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers how we want him to or when we want him to. However, he gives us the strength to keep going despite our trials. Our very lives are a mark of God's grace, so if life is hard, and God gives us the strength to keep going and keep trusting in Him, despite hardship, that is God's grace in our lives. We don't deserve endurance.

This phrase led me to the Bible, where I read all I could about enduring and endurance. Here are a few of the things I found...

Luke 21:19 "By your endurance you will gain your lives." Jesus is telling his disciples about the hardships they will endure as his followers after he leaves earth. He says they will be mocked, hated, and possibly even killed, but their endurance in persecution is a mark of their salvation.

Romans 5:3-5 "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Love these verses. So not only do we not deserve to endure, but God uses endurance to strengthen and sanctify us. Endurance results in character and character produces hope. The result of endurance is hope in God - and his future grace.

I Peter 2:19-20 "Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God." The context of this verse is a command for slaves to be subject to their masters. But this is a truth for all believers. We are to endure suffering, even when we suffer for doing good. This is a mark of God's grace in our lives, because it shows that we are following the example of Christ, and God looks on this kind of endurance with favor and blessing.

Hebrews: 12:1-2 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Here our lives are compared to a race that must be run with perserverance all the way to the finish line. Anyone with running background knows that races are not easy. Race day means you push your body to perform at your maximum level. Races are hard, but it is exciting to finish them well. Here Jesus is, again, the example of the model racer. His race included a cross right before the finish line... He endured more than we can imagine and finished his race perfectly so the rest of us could finish our races with endurance as well.

How is God giving you the grace to endure today? How is this producing hope in your life?

Love is Obedience

I just finished reading John 15, which just has to be one of the most beautiful passages of the whole Bible. Jesus is the vine. We are His branches. We are to spend our lives on this earth bearing fruit for God's glory, and in that we will find joy and our "joy will be full" (John 15:11).

But to abide in Christ, the vine, means we must love Him, and there is a little twist to loving Christ; it means we must obey Him. There is really no getting around this in Scripture. I can't love Christ and disobey Him. I can't love Christ and obey Him most of the time or when its conveninent or easy. In John 14, Jesus says "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (v.15), and then again is John 15, He says "You are my friends if you do what I command you" (v.14). Sometimes this obedience "if" is a big "IF". My pathetic, selfish heart does not always want to obey God. Now that I am married, my biggest tester of obedience is Micah (whether he knows it or not), because I see him so much more than anyone else. Micah is an amazing husband, but he's not perfect. There are times when Micah is legitimately sinful toward me (and, of course, I sin against him as well), and it's in these moments when I look at Micah's sin that I feel myself not wanting to obey Christ. What I want to do is point out Micah's sin, at least once, maybe twice, get angry, then give him the silent treatment, and resent him for the next couple of days. Then I remember that the Bible tells women to win over their husbands with their "respectful and pure conduct" (I Peter 3:1, even if their husbands are unbelievers! How much more should I respect my husband who is a believer? And that's when I have to stomp out my pride and show God my love by obeying Him, which means forgiving my husband and talking about things patiently when I am hurt or mad. It's not always fun, but I can say that it leads to so much more joy in my marriage than harboring bitterness or erupting in anger.

And I will leave you with one my all time favorite C.S. Lewis quotes:

I may repeat 'Do unto others' till I am black in the face, but I cannot really carry it out till I love my neighbor as myself:  and I cannot love my neighbor as myself till I learn to love God: and I cannot learn to love God except by learning to obey Him.