Perseverence & Endurance
Typically, we wouldn’t ascribe endurance to something easy or comfortable. Nor do we consider peace or rest as something to persevere through. When was the last time you had to suffer through a piece of chocolate cake? Something enjoyable does not require difficult or enduring effort to enjoy! The very notion of perseverance is that something difficult requires us to continue interacting with it, moving through it, or dealing with it to ascertain a solution. The ability to endure and persevere is grown through the very act of using it. We learn how to deal with the difficulties in life in many ways: From the examples of our parents or role models, to our own interactions and experiences in life. So why does the idea of perseverance and endurance seem so difficult?
Comfort is an underlying and fundamental need of people. Reducing stress, anxiety, work, or burden is so ingrained in us that we look for ways to alleviate it often times without even knowing. And in this current world there is so much available to alleviate discomfort that we don’t even give ourselves a chance to develop any perseverance. From easy food options to nearly limitless entertainment; From video games to doom scrolling our preferred socials; From medications and substances to address any negative feelings to outright physical alteration of undesirable parts. The world today is bent on you removing any opposition to your comfort or (perceived) happiness.
But earning a comfort, joy, or pleasure -as something that has cost you- in turn gives it value. Having to struggle through some exercise or experience makes the result worth it, often giving us wisdom and strength to face other challenges. This then gives us confidence to face whatever comes next. How much more valuable is that confidence to take on the next thing over the temporary relief provided by some easy means?
“Again, this world is trying everything it can to convince you to remove any discomfort whatsoever, so that you don’t have to grow. So that you can remain stagnant and complacent. This is not God’s plan for you or for any of us.”
— Paul Reith. MA & LMFT
Spiritually speaking, God uses our experiences and our endurance of them to grow us, define us, and sometimes correct us. Avoiding persevering through what is right or hard is avoiding Him! The Hall of Faith in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 is full of people who endured difficult circumstances and were used by God through it. Again, this world is trying everything it can to convince you to remove any discomfort whatsoever, so that you don’t have to grow. So that you can remain stagnant and complacent. This is not God’s plan for you or for any of us.
So why does it fill us with dread? Repeating myself, it is because it is hard to endure. Hard to persevere. Hard to face struggle and difficulty, and to get back up and face it again. But it is the right thing to do. The preceding chapter of Hebrews (ch. 10) exhorts us to persevere for Christ’s sake. This kind of endurance produces in us a sturdiness and a strength that forms at our core and ultimately deals better with those same stressors and anxieties that we were attempting to avoid in the first place. And that produces a contentment stronger than comfort.
