Week 5 / Enduring in Hope
Monday / Building Endurance
Read: James 1:2–8, 12
SOAP: James 1:2–4
My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.
Into the Text
Hope is the confidence to wait on God when we cannot see the future. Sometimes that waiting has a predictable end date—like finishing a project or the birth of a baby. Sometimes that waiting feels endless, like waiting for a spouse or waiting for healing from chronic pain. But anytime we wait, we build endurance.
We know that, as believers in Christ, we are ultimately waiting for His return and waiting to spend eternity with Him. As we wait for the fullness of redemption, we build endurance. All the things we wait for in the meantime also build endurance in us.
Have you ever run or watched a marathon? The runners who finish first barely look winded after running 26.2 miles. They’ve spent years building endurance. They are accustomed to experiencing suffering for long periods. The runners who finish at the end of the race look much different. They are covered in sweat, breathing heavily, and maybe even falling over (I know this from experience). All the runners compete in the race. They all receive a race t-shirt and a participation medal. But those who are better trained will run with more ease and confidence as they know they will be able to finish.
The trials we face in life are like training for a marathon, the marathon of our lives. They help us build endurance, which in turn produces character and hope. It takes time to build endurance. It doesn’t happen overnight or with one difficult experience. But by building our endurance through suffering, we are being perfected.
As we endure seasons of suffering and seasons of waiting, God builds our endurance. We can trust that He is working in everything He brings us through. He does not want us to be deficient in anything. He wants us to run our race of faith like the first finishers of a marathon: confident that we will be able to complete the race and full of joy.
Waiting is not easy. But God promises that if we endure, He will give us a crown of life. Keep running. Keep building endurance for the kingdom as you continue to live in hope.