“Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.”. -Matthew 24:12-13
I find these words of Jesus intriguing, challenging and to have been proven very true in my life and in lives I have seen around me. There is an interesting murmuring in our modern world. It is a whisper from our culture, it is screamed from every advertisement on TV, and I hear it plainly spoken by many public figures. The message is that I should be in a perfect situation, treated completely fairly, that I deserve circumstances that help me grow and be better without in any way offending or harming me. If I am not being treated as I would like in my relationships, I should end them. If my workplace is uncomfortable or dysfunctional, I should sue them. If I am unhappy in any way, I should, I can, I deserve to find a way to happy. Happiness and and comfort reign supreme, and they are my just desserts in life.
So we divorce the unloving husband. We go into more debt and buy a bigger house when our children become unhappy sharing a room. We look for ways around the relational challenges we face when our children get older and aren’t connecting with us, by buying them things, taking them on trips, signing them up for more activities to get them out of the house. We work more than we should when being at home is too hard. We hide behind our phones and computers and televisions when the life in front of us isn’t exciting enough.
We make ourselves “happy”.
But what about situations I can’t control? This message has no answer for me if I find myself in an unfair situation that is beyond human hands. What if my child dies? What if I am out of work and can’t find a job for a year or, God forbid, two or three years? What if my house burns down and the insurance company goes broke the same day? What if my husband says he is done trying to make it work and refuses to go on? What if my dream doesn’t work out and I have to find something else to live for, to love, to find a life other than the one I wanted? How do I make things like that fair? How do I get comfortable and happy?
How do we grow beyond the need to be happy and learn to endure the unhappiness? How do we eat burnt toast and try not to taste the charred black part? No sweetness from another part of life can cover up the taste of that kind of pain. It is too pungent, too strong and often too much to bear.
In the passage from Matthew above, Jesus talks a lot before and after about the days of tribulation. His matter-of-fact statements about people being killed, starving and suffering are shocking. His empathy for pregnant and nursing women is startling. His promise to those who endure is eye-opening.
Salvation.
If my burnt toast is the kind no human can help me with, I am left with very few promising choices. Endurance that brings the promise of salvation is a consolation, but it doesn’t make it easier or more comfortable. Hopefully, though, it gives value in an eternal sense. God will save the faithful who look for Him daily. He promised to never leave us or forsake us, and we know it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18) so we must trust salvation and redemption is coming. It takes faith to trust in God when it seems He alone has wounded us. That pain can be unquenchable, but faith of that kind can be found, and is precious to Him. When life leaves you with nowhere to turn but to Him, He will be faithful beyond your expectation. Christ suffered and died to make that possible, and that type of salvation is the miracle of the gospel.
If my burnt toast is the kind I can fix by altering my life, I should consider enduring rather than changing my circumstance. Enduring a difficult situation could be seen as faithfulness to God and could result in salvation for me. The unhappy marriage may be redeemed after a few years of endurance. The low position at work performed faithfully could grant me favor with a superior and end in promotion. Faithfully engaging with my wayward child may one day end with standing before God and hearing His gratitude for my diligence with the child He entrusted to me. Maybe I need to do something about it, or maybe I need to trust God’s providential hand and endure for a while.
What if I grew to love the pain of endurance because I learned to value salvation? I may then find my happiness not in my comfort but in God’s favor. Those ads on tv don’t guarantee our happiness, but God promises salvation to those who endure. I believe living like that makes life richer, more worthwhile and brings comfort when situations seem comfortless. Somehow, it all makes more sense that way, as we pass through this life and time into eternity, learning and growing in whatever season He brings our way.
