Endure Hardship (November 5, 2006)

Jesus said, "He who endures to the end will be saved" (Matthew 10:22).

He said "endure," not "float along on a cloud enjoying Your Best Life Now." Sometimes the Christian life demands endurance. I have often found that when I counsel distraught believers, my words amount to little more than variations on the theme, "Keep going." It is like that brutal quote from the film Platoon, where a squad leader says to a wounded soldier: "Take the pain."

Lately I have been in contact with a couple friends whose spouses belong to that ever-growing list of "demon-spawn-who-claim-to-be-Christians." (Boy there are a lot of those now, aren't there? Last week we added sodomite Ted Haggard to the list.) One faithful spouse said (I paraphrase), "I DON'T understand why things have fallen apart for me while things go so smoothly for my spouse!" I have heard this before. Years ago a pastor friend of mine, beleaguered by a hostile congregation, said (though at least he could laugh about it), "Why are they doing this to ME? I mean, there are all these pastors who are lazy or manipulative or addicted to porn - I could understand if THEY got this kind of opposition, but why in the world is this happening to ME?" We laughed together, but there was probably some pain in it.

Yet another wounded friend, responding to the Haggard scandal, wrote, "I read that Haggard The Horrible's wife issued a statement that she is standing by her man, and I think, 'Oh that's rich. The crystal meth-snorting PERVERT has a faithful loving wife, while I, a model husband (not bragging; it's just true) get my guts ripped out and plastered against the wall by a user [female dog].' It isn't right."

No, it isn't right. But what do you say?

For what it is worth, my biblical go-to guy in these situations is John the Baptist - my hero, my patron saint. John went from preaching to thousands to languishing alone in Herod's dungeon after courageously denouncing Herod's sin (Mark 6:18). There he became so discouraged that he doubted his faith, sending word to Jesus asking if he really was the Messiah (Luke 7:20). It must have driven John nuts to have his grand audience reduced to a single individual, Herod, who "liked to listen to him" (Mark 6:20), but who never repented. Surely at some point the thought crossed John's mind, "Why does SCUM Herod get to lie on a bed of ease while I waste away in prison? This isn't right!" Then he gets his head chopped off on the whim of a girl. (Mark 6:21-28).

But John was a holy man of whom the world was not worthy (See Hebrews 11:38). He was the greatest of all those born under the terms of the Old Covenant (Matthew 11:11). And the joy he now experiences in heaven is so great that none of us could bear it - only the soul of humble John is big enough to embrace the delights that God grants him in the presence of Jesus.

You probably don't have it as bad now as John did in his earthly life. So keep enduring.