Sabbath Services
“Do not pray for an easy life, but for the strength to ensure a difficult one.” – Bruce Lee. What does it mean to endure? How do we do it? Endurance is not just grinning and bearing it. It means pushing forward despite the challenges, to stand fast with courage. What makes some endure while others fall out? God’s laws are not there to trick us. They are simple, straightforward, and the path to a happy, full, abundant, life. We have the truth, and we have the free moral agency to choose what path we are going to walk. Negativity and worry are fruitless. Pessimism and impatience are fruitless. In the parable of the Sower, we see those rootless plants wither, thorny, weed-addled plants choke, and only fruit rooted in good ground will endure to maturity. Without being called and chosen and faithful – all three – we will not make it into the kingdom of God. How deep do our spiritual roots go? In second Timothy, we see Paul exhort Timothy to endure hardship as a good Christian soldier. We are called upon to do the same. Don’t endure for yourself. Do it so you can help others get there. We are called to edify and exhort, and build up one another. God hasn’t called us to the lackadaisical, passive way of the world. We are called upon to press forward, knowing that coming out the other side of a hard trial could inspire someone else to do the same. The only way we endure till the end is to build our house upon the rock, lean on God to provide the strength and deliverance we need to make it through, and to fix our eyes on the coming Kingdom of God.
