Endurance, Part 4

Last week we considered Abraham as an example of endurance. This week I wish to turn your attention to the supreme example of endurance, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 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 is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

We are called here to run with patience the race that is set before us. Remember that patience is the quality of enduring with calmness and composure. That we have to run a race suggests a great expenditure of effort on our part. If you have ever run for any length of time, you know that there are points when you feel like you just can’t run one step farther. It is as though everything in you wants to quit. Being an avid exerciser, I know whereof I speak. What you need at this point of weakness is endurance, which is the ability to sustain the continued hardship without giving way. Therefore, we are called upon to run with patience the race. It takes patience to keep on keeping on when you want to give up. If you run the race with patience, you will endure to the finish.

In order to encourage us to run our race with patience, we are told to run “looking unto Jesus…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” And then we are told to “consider him (Jesus) that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.” Jesus is set before us as an example of enduring hardship. We are told to look to this example and consider it. Now consider the definition of consider.

Consider - To contemplate mentally; fix the mind upon; to think over, meditate or reflect on, bestow attentive thought upon, give heed to, take note of.

When I tell you to “consider the definition of consider,” I am doing more than just making a play on words. I really want to you bestow attentive thought on this definition. Do you consider the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you fix your mind on Him? Do you meditate on Him? How much of your mental attention does He really command? What I am writing here is so extremely important because it is the key to enduring hardship! One reason people give up is that they have misplaced their attention. Rather than looking to Jesus, they look to their hardship. They consider how difficult their pain or trouble is to bear rather than considering Jesus. If they would bestow attentive thought upon Jesus Christ and what He endured for them, it would put their present hardship into perspective and make it more bearable.

Have you ever given serious consideration to the life of Christ? His life was so full of grief that He is described as “a man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3). Consider how often sinners contradicted Him when He spoke. He endured that throughout His ministry. His words were constantly being misinterpreted and argued against, sometimes even by His own disciples. In fact, it was because sinners took issue with the things He said that He was ultimately delivered up to be crucified. So much contradiction of sinners, day in and day out. And yet He endured to the end. And when it was time for Him to go to the cross, He did not give up and run away. He endured it! And where would we be if He hadn’t? It you have ever taken time to reflect on the sufferings of Christ on that cross, then you know that nothing that you have to endure even begins to compare with the pain He had to sustain on all levels, whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. He understands any pain you are sustaining. He has been there. He knows what it is to endure.

But we are also told that Christ endured all this “for the joy that was set before Him.” As He faced His sufferings and death, He looked beyond what He would have to endure to the joy on the other side at the right hand of God. He focused on the victory He and His people would enjoy e HGon the other side of the apparent defeat of the cross and the tomb. Here are our Lord’s words spoken in prophecy:

Psalms 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Is not this exactly what I have been instructing you to do as you endure hardship? Remember that at the end of enduring hardship is the crown of life (James 1:12). This is the incentive to calmly abide the issue of time as you endure the tribulation. Keep your sights set on the outcome. Set the Lord Jehovah always before you as did Jesus. This is also what Moses did and it enabled him to endure his hardships.

Hebrews 11:27 By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

Moses looked beyond the difficulties he could see to the God that he could not see. Moses believed God was there. He believed God’s commandments and acted on them. In that faith he endured all the difficulties that came with a life of obedience to God. And if you know the history of Moses, you know he faced plenty of frustrating circumstances that would make any one want to quit.

The fascinating thing in all of this is that as you take your attention off of the pain you are enduring and bestow it upon the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be better able to endure the pain. I have found this true in aerobic exercise like running or cycling. If I think about the strenuous activity, and the pain, and how much longer I have to go, I begin to grow weak and the urge to give up increases. But if I am thinking about something else, I find I can keep going. I have found this especially true when I get caught up listening to some lively music. I can just go and go, because my attention is distracted from the exercise to something more uplifting. As so it shall be when you keep your attention fixed on Jesus. In fact, notice that our text instructs us to consider Him “lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." When you become weary, your patience and energy becomes exhausted. When you faint, you are at the point of giving up. The antidote to reaching this point of giving up is considering Him, keeping your attention focused on the Lord Jesus Christ.

So look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider Him. Consider where He was in His hardship and where He is now in His glory. Hang in there. The reward at the end is well worth the struggle.