Cultivating Endurance

This confession tells us that another condition for victory in this race is stated in Hebrews 12:1: “endurance.” It is one quality that is essential to our character, as Christians, if we are going to achieve real spiritual success and fulfillment. We must cultivate endurance.

What is the opposite of endurance? I think it is giving up, or quitting. Christians cannot afford to be quitters. When God commits us to something, we have to set our faces to fulfill it and go through with it. There is a close relationship between self-control and endurance. Without self-control, we will not achieve endurance. We must master our weaknesses; otherwise, every time we are tested in the area of endurance, some weakness — whether it is emotional, psychological, or physical—will get us down, and we will give up at the very point where we should have been holding on and enduring.

Yet another condition for a successful race is to have our eyes fixed on Jesus. As is stated in Hebrews:

“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2, NASB)

We have to look continually to Jesus. In other words, we cannot run the race in self-reliance. Looking to Jesus means that He is our example, and we put our confidence in Him. He is the author—the beginning of our faith. He is the perfecter—the One who will bring us through to victory.