Endurance

At the end of his ministry, the apostle Paul was in chains, languishing in a Roman prison and treated as a criminal (2 Timothy 1:16). Whereas in his first imprisonment he had a measure of comfort and freedom, he was now confined in a dank and perhaps crowded dungeon. It was from here that he wrote a letter to his son in the faith, Timothy, and urged him to persevere in strength and faithfulness (2 Timothy 2:1).

Paul understood that despite Timothy’s sound doctrine and personal godliness, he was prone to waver. He had to warn him against timidity (2 Timothy 1:7). He had to urge him not to be ashamed of the testimony of Christ (v. 8). He had to enjoin him to retain sound doctrine and to guard the treasure of the gospel (vv. 13–14). He had to call him to diligence in handling God’s word (2:15). He had to remind him to flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness (v. 22). He had to exhort him to avoid foolish and ignorant speculations (v. 23).

Essentially, Paul was imploring Timothy to stay the path that he had previously been walking so faithfully. As spiritual stamina waned and opposition loomed, Timothy was in need of steadfastness. He needed to recall his past commitments—and stick with them.

This need was certainly not unique to Timothy. Spiritual endurance is a key component of godly masculinity. While any man can hold convictions for a time or have a moment of integrity—these qualities are only as good for as long as they persevere. It is inherent to godly strength that it endures under fire.

In a world that is hostile to the gospel of Christ, endurance is crucial. Without it, a barrage of error and sin will knock down even the most well-meaning believers. It is key for the leadership of families, the protection of the truth, the spread of the gospel, and growth in sanctification. If men give in to spiritual weariness, the results will be disastrous for the church.

Paul summed up his call to endurance in his second letter to Timothy: “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. . . . Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:1, 3–4).

Writing from prison, Paul held up his own example to Timothy, reminding him that he was not calling the young man to tread a path that Paul himself had not trod. For many years Paul had suffered countless hardships (2 Corinthians 11:23–28) and now, as he wrote from prison, he was “already being poured out as a drink offering” (2 Timothy 4:6). Paul was calling his son in the faith to join him in suffering—to serve at his side, without deserting his post, even as the going got tough. The call was not to avoid suffering and affliction, but to endure it.

The Secrets to Endurance

This kind of endurance is a rare commodity among Christian men today. They start well, but the pressures of their role become difficult and tiresome—doctrinal and moral commitment slackens, devotion to family and church decreases, and the appeal of comfort and ease seduces them into idleness.

But God’s Word teaches us how to overcome such things and endure. In fact, in 2 Corinthians 4:16–18, Paul describes three key values that will produce endurance in the life of a believer. These will aid the Christian man as he fights to remain faithful.

First, a man will endure if he values spiritual strength over physical. Paul writes, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Paul was able to endure anything that came at him in the physical realm because he was more concerned about what was happening in the spiritual realm.

Paul’s outer man—his physical body—was decaying because, like everyone, he was progressively aging. On top of that, his abnormally arduous life accelerated that process. Paul thought it would be better to wear out than to rust out, so he was old before his time—worn out in the cause of Christ. He never expected to have permanent youth or health. He knew that life was a process of decay.

And it wasn’t merely hunger, sleeplessness, and illness that took a toll on Paul; it was the battering his body received at the hands of his enemies. He bore the scars of beatings (Acts 16:22), whippings (2 Corinthians 11:24), and even a stoning (Acts 14:19; 2 Corinthians 11:25), as well as multiple imprisonments (Acts 16:24).

In spite of all this, Paul said that the inner man—his soul—was being renewed. In salvation, the inner man is regenerated—it is reborn and becomes a new creation (John 3:3–8; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Titus 3:5), and henceforth is constantly being renewed by sanctifying grace. Paul wrote that as his outer man suffered affliction, the state of his soul was improving. His mind, heart, and will were growing in holiness in direct correlation to the dying of his outer man.

The seeming paradox here is that when believers are physically weak and at the end of their own resources, they are in the place where they can be made spiritually strong: “Therefore,” Paul wrote, “I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Life’s trials, troubles, and difficulties serve only to build inner strength because they drive believers to humbly, prayerfully, and hopefully depend on God. That’s why, at the end of his life, bereft of human comfort and support, Paul declared, “The Lord stood with me and strengthened me” (2 Timothy 4:17).

For all Christian men, the decaying outer man will perish, but in the process, the inner man will move from glory to glory by the sanctifying work of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). You don’t need to be able to bench press 400 pounds as much as you need to maintain holiness and champion the truth under persecution. This will only happen when we love what God accomplishes in the inner man through suffering more than we love our own lives (James 1:2–4).

Second, a man will endure if he values the future over the present. Second Corinthians 4:17 says, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.”

Though Paul’s affliction was constant and intense, he viewed it as momentary in light of eternity. He knew that his life was “just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14), after which “man goes to his eternal home” (Ecclesiastes 12:5). His life was but a blip.

Beyond that, Paul also believed the hardship he bore was light—even easy to bear. From an earthly perspective, it was severe and relentless. But for Paul, who was focused on his future in heaven, it was a weightless trifle.

Paul could think this way because he realized that the future held something far greater than all the pleasure the present could offer and all the pain it could throw at him. The present suffering was temporary; the future glory was eternal. The present suffering was light; the future glory was massive. The joys of heaven were beyond all measure, beyond all comparison to the present. So he wrote, “We suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:17–18).

Furthermore, suffering for Christ’s sake in the present is actually producing this glory. There is a correspondence between the faithful endurance of suffering in this life and the believer’s reward in heaven. Hence, a Christian looking forward to the joys stored up for him in the future can handle the troubles of this life.

There are many men who are seemingly content with the present—whether they are occupied with the pleasures of sin or more legitimate concerns like work and family. Regardless, if a man is tied to the things of the present, he will not have the will to endure in faithfulness to God.

Yet when he thinks about his future inheritance, and that endurance in times of trouble is producing an eternal weight of glory, he will press on toward the upward call (Philippians 3:14).

Third, a man will endure if he values invisible realities over the visible. Returning to 2 Corinthians 4, Paul writes in verse 18, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Paul identifies the things which are seen as “temporal,” which means everything that belongs to time—everything that begins and ends with time. Everything in this category will perish. On the other hand, “the things which are not seen” refers to two entities here: the triune God and the souls of men.

Paul is instructing us to “look” at invisible realities, meaning we must think on and contemplate the eternal God, just as he did (e.g., Romans 11:33–36; 1 Timothy 1:17; 1 Timothy 6:15–16). Paul was so consumed with God’s glory that he even preferred “to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8; cf. Philippians 1:23). His desire was to behold the Lord without hindrance (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Paul was also zealous for the souls of men, so much so that he wished he could be “accursed, separated from Christ” for the sake of saving others (Romans 9:1–4). His passion for people’s spiritual condition was the reason he was willing to “endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10). That passion eventually cost Paul his life.

All the possessions, ideas, systems, standards, ambitions, and achievements of this passing world didn’t matter a bit to Paul. If he never had a fortune, bank account, or house, if he never started an organization or had a respected career, if he never had prominence, fame, or earthly accomplishment—it didn’t matter to him.

To the world he was a colossal failure. I’m sure people talked about him, saying, “He might have amounted to something in life if he hadn’t turned to that strange religion.” After all, he was highly educated in Hellenistic and Jewish cultures; he was a Pharisee who knew the law inside out. But he gave up all these visible, temporal things for invisible, everlasting realities.

That kind of esteem for invisible realities will drive men to act like Paul—they will press on to know their God (Hosea 6:3; cf. Philippians 3:8). And they will sacrifice for the sake of man’s spiritual good.

Paul understood the secret of enduring, no matter how difficult or painful the trial. We ought to heed his inspired instruction. Men who, like Paul, cultivate spiritual strength in their inner person, do not let the present blind them to the future, and set their hearts on eternal realities will be able to exult with the apostle, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9).