BY MICHELLE WILLIAMS, GRACE ATTENDER & BLOGGER
Learn How to Endure
If our faith is adrift, we must learn how to endure.
The core idea behind Barry Rod’s message this past weekend: learning to endure becomes crucial when tough times and hardships test our faith. Learning to endure is what keeps us from drifting in our faith.
Learning to endure could be a pivotal point in the trajectory of a person’s faith, especially in a time when the ideals of modern society revolve around convenience, comfort and safety. Endurance is likely not the go-to strategy for people who have lived most of their lives being sold on everything that’s fast, low risk, and easy. Our culture has been engineered to seek a life free of hardships.
So when something in life tests our faith, what’s the easy way out? Letting go of our faith. (a.k.a. Drifting)
Hardly seems like a real solution to any problem. Because no matter how many TV commercials promise fast, low risk and easy, the real source of discomfort never quite disappears. Constantly chasing down convenience, comfort and safety in itself can become a source of discomfort—a vicious cycle of struggling to rid your life of woes.
Sound familiar? Does it ever feel like something's just… missing? Could it be your faithful connection to God?
Learning to endure in faith through hardships is like securing that tether; the lifeline that keeps us from drifting. Enduring in faith is how we can find peace even in the midst of trials that are complicated, painful and risky. Endurance is what gets us through our own struggles so we can get on with God’s work.
Endurance is what gets us through our own struggles so we can get on with God’s work.![]()
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The Process
If you’re ready to learn what it takes to endure, Barry outlined a process to get started:
1. Deal with your sin. Strip it away, because it’s holding you back. Endure the awkwardness.
2. Defend your faith with boldness. Jesus showed us what it means to live a countercultural faith. Endure the ridicule.
3. Let God shape you. Push through challenging circumstances and face your shortcomings with humility so God can reveal your strength. Endure God’s training.
It’s not an easy process, it may take some time, and there could be risk involved. But it’s time to stop drifting in faith and throw away those cultural norms. It’s time to endure, to grow in faith, and get on with the work that God prepared in advance just for you.
Next Steps
Do you need practical steps to learn how to endure? Here are a few ways you can get started using Grace resources:
1. Deal with your sin. Try out 180Xchange, our weekly Life-Change Recovery Ministry for teens through adults. Every Friday, we meet for large group teaching and integrity group meetings to work through all of our hurts, habits and hang-ups. Learn more and register.
2. Defend your faith with boldness. Nothing says being bold by showing the love of Jesus to the least of these. Each year, we provide 20+ short-term mission trips to do just that. Learn more and see the list of trips.
3. Let God shape you. Get in touch with God's call on your life through serving (at Grace and with partners) and learning opportunities at Grace.