Finish Strong

Christian endurance is not simply the ability to survive difficult experiences. It is faith becoming stable through those experiences.The mature believer still hurts. He still has questions. He still needs encouragement. He still prays for relief. He may even have moments when he feels overwhelmed. But beneath all of this, something has become settled. He belongs to Christ.That is the destination James is describing. The goal is not a life without trouble but a faith that trouble can no longer uproot. Perhaps the simplest description of fully developed endurance is this: Whatever happens, leaving God is no longer considered a solution.

One of the great challenges of the Christian life is that we know what God wants us to become, but we do not always know what that looks like in everyday life.James begins his letter by telling Christians something that seems almost unreasonable at first. He says that when troubles come, we should consider them an opportunity for joy because the testing of our faith produces endurance. Then he adds:

And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.- James 1:4

The trouble itself is not the source of joy. Cancer is not joyful. Losing a job is not joyful. Family problems are not joyful. Grief is not joyful. James is talking about what these experiences can produce when they are met with faith.But his statement raises an interesting question. What does endurance look like when it is "fully developed"?James does not give us a checklist. He does, however, describe throughout his letter the kind of person that persevering faith produces. When these teachings are brought together, we begin to see a practical picture of Christian endurance.I call these the 7 marks of Christian endurance:

1. Trouble No Longer Determines Whether You Trust God

Most of us have little difficulty trusting God when life is going reasonably well. The real test comes when circumstances begin contradicting what we hoped God would do.Perhaps you prayed for healing and the illness continued. You asked God to repair a relationship and it became worse. You tried to do the right thing and suffered because of it. At moments like these, the temptation is not simply discouragement. The deeper temptation is to allow circumstances to redefine God for us.We begin thinking, "If God loved me, this would not be happening."Mature endurance does not mean that we stop hurting or asking questions. Job questioned God. David repeatedly asked how long his suffering would continue. Faith does not require pretending that painful things are painless.Endurance means that our circumstances no longer have the authority to decide whether God is faithful.We may not understand what He is doing, but we have lived with Him long enough to know Who He is.

2. Delay No Longer Destroys Your Confidence

Waiting is one of the most difficult parts of faith because waiting gives doubt time to speak.We pray about something on Monday and feel confident. Weeks later we are still praying. Months later nothing appears to have changed. Eventually the question shifts from, "When will God answer?" to, "Is God listening?"James uses the farmer as his example:

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.- James 5:7

The farmer cannot dig up the seed every morning to see whether it is growing. He has done what he can do. Now he waits for something beyond his control.There comes a maturity in prayer when we learn the same lesson. We make our request. We do whatever obedience requires of us. Then we leave room for God to work according to His wisdom and timing.*Waiting does not necessarily mean that nothing is happening. It may simply mean that we cannot yet see what is happening.

3. Temptation Is Recognized Rather Than Rationalized

James moves almost immediately from trials to temptation because pressure often exposes what is already inside us.He writes:

But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.- James 1:14

One of the signs of immaturity is our ability to justify what we already want to do. We tell ourselves that something is not really wrong, that everybody does it, that this particular circumstance is different, or that we deserve an exception.Maturity becomes more honest.The experienced Christian begins recognizing the direction of temptation before reaching its final destination. We learn our weaknesses. We recognize familiar patterns. We become suspicious of the excuses we have used before.This is another form of endurance because sometimes faithfulness simply means saying no again to something we have already said no to many times before.Victory over temptation is often not dramatic. It is the quiet decision to remain faithful one more time.

4. You Do Right Even When Nothing Immediately Improves

Sometimes we unconsciously make obedience into a bargain with God."I'll do what You say, and then You make things better."We forgive someone and expect the relationship to improve. We give generously and expect financial relief. We serve faithfully and expect appreciation. We pray and expect the problem to disappear.But what happens when you obey and nothing changes?This is where endurance moves obedience to a deeper level.Eventually we learn that doing what is right does not require an immediate reward. We tell the truth because we belong to the God of truth. We forgive because we ourselves have been forgiven. We serve because Christ served us. We remain faithful because Christ is worthy of our faithfulness.There is tremendous freedom in reaching this point. We no longer need to ask, "What am I going to get out of this?" The question becomes, "What does faithfulness require of me?"

5. You Become Harder to Provoke

James gives us a remarkably ordinary measurement of spiritual maturity:

This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;- James 1:19

We sometimes imagine maturity as knowing more Scripture, understanding deeper doctrines, or having many years of church experience. Those things have value, but James brings the matter much closer to home.How easily can someone provoke you?How quickly do you respond when criticized? How badly do you need the last word? How long do you carry an offense? What happens when somebody interrupts your plans, misunderstands your motives, or disagrees with your opinion?Spiritual endurance gradually creates emotional steadiness.This does not mean that mature Christians never become angry. It means that anger has less control over what they say and do. Experience with God teaches us that not every criticism requires a response, not every disagreement is a crisis, and not every offense needs to be carried around.A mature Christian becomes increasingly difficult to knock off balance.

6. You Stop Looking for an Easier Christianity

There comes a point in spiritual development when we stop negotiating the basic terms of discipleship.Early in our Christian lives we may not even realize that we are doing this. We will serve as long as we are appreciated. We will remain enthusiastic as long as things are going well. We will sacrifice as long as the sacrifice does not become too expensive.Then life tests those conditions. Eventually the mature Christian settles something very important: I belong to Jesus Christ.That decision does not have to be reconsidered every time life becomes difficult.Jesus never promised His disciples an easy road. He promised that He would be with them on that road. Once we accept that distinction, we stop spending so much energy wondering why Christianity has not made life easier.Instead, we begin asking how we can remain faithful in the life we have actually been given.

7. You Remain Faithful Without Knowing How the Story Ends

This may be the clearest evidence of mature endurance.Most things would be easier to endure if we knew how they were going to end. Tell me that the illness will be gone next year and I can face the treatments. Tell me that my child will eventually return to the Lord and I can endure the present heartache. Tell me that the financial crisis will be resolved in six months and I can manage the anxiety.But God rarely gives us that information.This is why James eventually points his readers to Job:

We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.- James 5:11

Job did not know what the reader of the book knows. He did not know why his suffering had come. He did not know how long it would last. He did not know how the story would end.And Job certainly struggled. He grieved. He questioned. He complained. He demanded answers. But he kept turning toward God.There is a profound difference between struggling with God and walking away from God. Endurance does not mean that we have no questions left. It means that unanswered questions no longer have the power to separate us from the One we trust.

When Endurance Has Done Its Work

Now we can better understand what James means when he says that endurance makes us "perfect and complete, needing nothing."He is not describing a Christian who has reached sinless perfection. Nor is he describing someone who has become so strong that he no longer needs God. He is describing someone whose faith has become dependable.There was a time when this person needed favorable circumstances in order to feel secure in God. There was a time when unanswered prayer produced panic, criticism produced anger, temptation produced excuses, and hardship produced doubts about whether following Christ was worth the cost.But something has happened through the years. The trials came, and the person continued believing. The disappointments came, and the person continued praying. Life did not always become easier, but faith became stronger.This is the strange gift hidden inside difficulty. We ask God to remove the trial, while God sometimes uses the trial to remove something from us: instability, impatience, self-reliance, spiritual shallowness, or the constant need to have everything go our way.That is why James can speak about trials and joy in the same sentence. He is not celebrating the suffering. He is looking beyond it to the person who can emerge from it.

This article is not. I borrowed it from Mike Mazzalongo at Bibletalk.tv