So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. (Hebrews 10:35-36) The theme at BibleGateway.com seems to be endurance, and it’s a good theme, because it goes against everything we want for ourselves, even if it is precisely what we hope for lots of other people. We don’t tend to want to keep going when the going isn’t pleasant. “Good” people should only have to endure good things. For the rich, those with whom we disagree, and other and various sundry wicked people, we tend to think in terms of repent, endure, or perish. It’s the whole idea behind karma. The problem is that reality doesn’t work that way. In fact, part of the proof that a person is good is that they remain good even while enduring pain, difficulty, and injustice. That’s what Jesus did, and as His disciples, we’re supposed ...
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3-4) I’ve said what I’m going to say before, but sometimes, we need a reminder. We like to think that anything that happens to us that we don’t like is evil. And, we might be right, but the thing about evil, or even about hard things that aren’t evil, is that they build resilience. They build perseverance, which builds character, which gives us the capacity to hope. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know this. At least, we think we know this until something tough or evil comes along. Yesterday, I went to the doctor’s for a check in more than a checkup. As a result, I ended up making a phone call to set up another appointment. Yep, the medical merry-go-round. Both the people I talked to congratulated me on making the decision to get my knee replaced. I know it’s a good dec...