Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

Endurance is the queen of all virtues.
—Chrysostom (347-407), early church father

Bible Truth Behind the Quote:
We are exhorted to run with endurance (Hebrews 12:1), especially during times of testing (James 1:12)

Ron Rhodes, 1001 Unforgettable Quotes about God, Faith, & the Bible (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2011).

The “Holiday Season” can be an endurance test for many in today’s challenging times. It is not easy to get all the “right” toys or enough presents so we don’t feel like cheapskates. Then there are the millions who are incarcerated, dealing with depression/PTSD and a host of other issues.

ENDURE, en-dūrʹ: Used in the Bible (1) in the sense of “continue,” “last,” as in Ps 9:7, “The Lord shall endure for ever” (ARV “Jeh sitteth as king for ever”); 30:5, “Weeping may endure for a night” (RV “tarry,” m “may come in to lodge at even”); Jn 6:27, “the meat which endureth,” AV. RV “the food which abideth”; (2) in the sense of “bear” (He 12:20): “bear up under” hardship, persecution, etc (2 Tim 3:11; 1 Pet 2:19); “to remain under” (He 10:32; 12:2; Jas 1:12; 5:11); “to be strong, firm” (He 11:27); “to persevere” beneath a heavy burden (Mt 10:22).

James Orr et al., eds., “Endure,” The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Chicago: The Howard-Severance Company, 1915), 944.

endurance (Lat. indurare, “to harden,” “to tolerate”) The Christian’s perseverance in the Christian life through all things as sustained by God’s grace (Luke 21:19; Rom. 5:3–4; Jas. 1:3–4). See also perseverance.

Donald K. McKim, The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), 102.

ABIDE. To abide, in the language of Scripture, means somewhat more than merely the remaining in one place. It implies an adherence to a thing; or an union with, and connection with it. Thus Jesus saith, (John 15:4.) “Abide in me and I in you.” So, speaking of the Holy Ghost, he saith, “He shall abide with you for ever.” (John 14:16.) And his servants, the apostles, use similar expressions, in the same sense. The apostles, Paul and John, describe the indwelling residence of the Holy Ghost, and a vital union with Christ, under this character of abiding. (See 2 Tim. 2:13. 1 John 2:27, 28.) It is a blessed consideration, in the view of this doctrine, that when Jesus saith, “Abide in me, and I in you;” and a little after; “Continue ye in my love:” (John 15:4, 9.) it is not a mere precept, without imparting with it ability. But it is, willing them into an ability, by virtue of a oneness with them, as the head of efficiency, to the members of his body. He directs the thing to be done, and he enables them to do it; according to that blessed promise: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.” (Psalm 110:3.)

Robert Hawker, The Poor Man’s Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures (London: Ebenezer Palmer, 1828), 15–16.

In Hebrews 12:1 we are encouraged to run the race with endurance set before us, especially when times are tough James 1:12. For those who teach, preach, or believe that Christianity is a cakewalk, READ THE BOOK, John 15:18-25. Yet nothing compares to the humiliation and suffering our Lord and Savior sustained for our Salvation.

DEVOTIONAL

—He hath poured out his soul unto death.—Isaiah 53:12.

MY soul! from the garden to the cross, follow Jesus! Behold him apprehended and hurried away, both to judgment and to death. He who struck to the ground the band that came to take him, might surely, by the same breath of his mouth, have struck them to hell, and prevented his being apprehended by them. But one of the sweetest and most blessed parts of Jesus’ redemption of his people, consisted in the freeness and willingness of his sacrifice. Yes! thou precious Lamb of God! no man (as thou thyself hadst before said) had power to take thy life from thee; but thou didst lay it down of thyself: thou hadst power to lay it down, and thou hadst power to take it again. Delightful consideration to thee, my soul! Now, my soul, let this day’s meditation be sacred to the view of thy Redeemer, pouring out his soul unto death. And to-morrow, if the Lord gives thee to see the morrow, let the solemn subject of thy study be the sufferings of Jesus in his body. Pause, then, my soul, and call up all the powers of thy mind to the contemplation of what the scripture teacheth, concerning thy Redeemer’s pouring out his soul unto death. Seek the teachings of the Holy Ghost in this solemn and mysterious subject. The original curse pronounced on the fall, which Jesus took upon himself, and came to do away, contained somewhat vastly great. For as the blessing promised to obedience, do this and thou shalt live, certainly meant somewhat much greater than mere animal life, and implied sweet fellowship and communion with God; so the curse to disobedience, dying thou shalt die, as plainly intimated much more than the mere return of the body to the dust out of which it was taken; it meant what in Scripture (Rev. 20:6.) is called the second death, meaning hell and everlasting misery. Hence, in the recovery of our lost and fallen nature from this awful state, when Jesus undertook the salvation of his people, he was to sustain all that was our due; and in the accomplishment of this, he not only died in his body, but he poured out his soul unto death. As the sinner’s Representative, and the sinner’s Surety, he bore the whole weight and pressure of divine justice due to sin; according to what the Holy Ghost taught—“Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil.” Rom. 2:9. Not that the Redeemer needed, in the accomplishment of this, to go down into hell to suffer the miseries of the damned; for when the avenging wrath of God came upon him, he endured it here. The wrath of God may be sustained in earth as well as hell; witness the evil spirit that is called the prince of the power of the air, Ephes. 2:2; for wherever the apostate angels are, they still endure divine wrath. Hence, when the Lord Christ poured out his soul unto death by reason of the extremity of his soul’s sufferings, and soul’s travail for his redeemed, he sustained all this as the sinner’s Surety, in becoming sin and a curse, to feel and suffer all that was the sinner’s due. Oh! who shall say, what heart shall conceive, the greatness and extensiveness of thy sufferings, precious, precious Lamb of God? Oh! who shall undertake fully to show the infinite suitableness of Jesus to every poor humble convinced sinner, in delivering him from the wrath to come? Here, my soul, fix thine eyes; here let all thy powers be employed in the unceasing contemplation, while beholding Jesus, thy Jesus, pouring out his soul unto death; while numbered with the transgressors, and bearing the sin of many, and making intercession for the transgressors.

Robert Hawker, The Poor Man’s Morning Portion (New York; Pittsburg: Robert Carter, 1845), 90–92.