Enduring & Bearing All Things

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

My neighbor is an incredibly faithful and consistent man. I watched him take care of his wife as she developed dementia, and it took a lot of perseverance. He has this steadfast character in the way that he cared for her, and then ultimately, when she went into a care facility, he would regularly visit her. She recently passed away, and I could see a sense of peace settle over him—but he has character. He has a sense of enduring perseverance.

I think for all of us, when we think about growing in character, we want to become people who can endure all things and bear all things, as Paul describes love in Corinthians. That’s what I want to talk to you about today. How do we build this? How do we build a sense of endurance? How do we become people who endure and bear difficult things?

We’re going to look at a passage from Hebrews 12. It says that Jesus, who is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, has gone ahead, and because of that, we can lay aside the weight and sin that cling to us. Instead, we can run with perseverance. We can have the same kind of endurance that Jesus does for a couple of reasons.

First, Jesus himself modeled it for us. The passage says he set the joy before him—that’s how Jesus endured the cross. He focused on the joy that was to come. Lastly, Hebrews 12 tells us we can use him as a model and remember that he has persevered more than we have and endured more than we have. Therefore, we can endure the things we are facing.

There are three ways this passage lays out for us to build endurance—to become people who can endure all things and bear all things. First, we want to be people who lay aside weight and sin. That’s the junk that builds up on us. Second, we want to set joy before us, allowing the joy of the future to fuel our endurance in the present. And lastly, we want to look to people who have modeled endurance for us. We want to be inspired by the endurance of others.

I love the movie What About Bob? In the film, Bob is completely weighed down and bound up by his neuroses. He can’t leave his apartment and is afraid of all kinds of things. As the story goes on, you see him become someone who sets aside the things that weigh him down. He stops being afraid of everything, and of course it’s hilarious because it happens while he drives his therapist crazy. You laugh the whole time. But whether it’s taking a vacation from his problems or, at the end, being tied up in what he thinks is a form of death therapy, he learns to set aside his problems and fears—and that helps him persevere through life.

You and I need to do the same thing. We need to be aware of the things that weigh us down. We need to recognize the ways sin and brokenness and division creep into our lives. We must acknowledge and identify them, and then grow beyond them. So my question to you is: What is it that you need to lay aside? If you look into your life, there might be something creating anxiety—maybe control issues, maybe something wearing you down. How can you set that aside so you free yourself to run with perseverance, as the author of Hebrews says?

Second, we see that Jesus was inspired by the joy set before him as he faced the cross. I think we have to become people who are really good at imagining the future so that we can draw motivation from it in the present.

When we think about the future, there is, of course, the grand narrative in which God brings resurrection and restoration to everything. Sometimes that’s our motivation. Other times, it’s imagining what it would be like for us to grow as people—to develop greater character and become people of peace, patience, kindness, and goodness. Sometimes it’s picturing a healthy community in the future or the well-being of our family.

When you think about parenting, you often imagine a future for your child. The joy you anticipate—knowing you’ve loved, raised, and connected with your child—gives you the strength to persevere and endure in the present. So we have to become really good at imagining the future.

What future do you imagine? What do you imagine for yourself, your family, the church, the community, or the world? Within all those things, it’s not about dreaming of the American dream—it’s about envisioning peace, patience, kindness, beauty, and wonder. Get good at imagining that future so it can provide motivation to endure in the present.

Lastly, we want to be inspired by others. In Hebrews, the encouragement to endure comes from being inspired by the endurance of Christ—his willingness to be human, to live, and to die, even a gruesome death on the cross.

It’s important for us to look around our lives and see those who inspire us. My grandmother passed away recently, and she was a woman who overcame so many hard things. Her ability to endure inspires me. She had a deep joy about her that persisted even in the midst of challenges. She used to say, “Have a good time while you’re in your prime.” Watching her live with that level of endurance inspires me to bear all things in my own life.

So if you want to build your character—if you want to be a person who can bear all things and endure all things—you need to do three things. Lay aside the weights, the sin, and the burdens that gum you up and block you from being your full self. Grow in your ability to imagine the future so that the joy of what’s ahead can motivate you to endure in the present. And finally, be inspired by Jesus and by others in your life—that great cloud of witnesses, as Hebrews 12 describes—so that their endurance strengthens your own.

I hope you’ve been enjoying this series. I’m looking forward to wrapping it up next week. Take care, and I’ll see you soon.