The latest paper I have finished writing is a definition essay. I picked endurance. This trait is so important to have. This quote by William Barclay, for me, really describes what endurance is in a condensed version. "Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory." As we endure trials and difficultly we honor Christ when, with his help, we press on and over come them.
Enjoy(:
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Run
With Endurance
“…Let us run
with endurance the race that is set before us…” Hebrews 12:1. Usually, when
people think of endurance pro-longed suffering and pain come first to their
mind. They lose sight of the eternal reward for running the race- conquering
trials- even if there no a tangible rewards. Because of its importance in
people’s lives, endurance has not gotten labeled a character trait for nothing.
Christians would miss out on giving glory to God for overcoming a certain
difficulty and the satisfaction of mastering a particular problem. Taking a
closer look at the meaning of endurance, Free Dictionary defines this trait as,
“the act, quality, or power of withstanding hardship or stress.” Living out
this character trait endurance certainly does not come naturally or easily to
anyone, however, we have a perfect example, Jesus Christ “…who for the joy set
before Him endured the cross…” Hebrews 12:2. With Christ as an example,
Christians too can persevere through suffering and hardships that will
inevitably produce the important quality of endurance.
To begin, understanding the attribute
endurance’s helps people comprehend more fully its true meaning and what it does
not stand for. This trait can take action in many different ways. When talking
about endurance, withstanding physical hardships and stress might seem a main
characteristics associated with it; however, many other facets exist. Although endurance
and perseverance share many similarities, endurances root word means a “continued
existence in time” and an “ability to endure suffering.” A person who
demonstrates endurance is either mentally or physically strong because the
words “continued existence” and “suffering” suggest more than just a bad day. In
contrast to this word, one might say, “to give up easily.” Some synonyms such
as weakness, wavering, and yielding, describe exactly the opposite of what
endurance means. An example of this goes as follows. Fifteen minutes left in
our game with a score of five to one. Having it in their minds that they would
never win, my team stopped trying to shoot goals. It seemed easier to simply
give up. True, my team may not have won in that fifteen minutes, but one thing remained
certain. To endure something and endure it well can seem just as good as
wining, because, after all that hard work, we as Christians will receive great
rewards in Jesus Christ. Only after understanding this trait and realizing its
importance in one’s everyday life can one really start putting into practice
what it means to truly endure.
Endurance not
only has a powerful result on people who exhibit this trait, but on those who
receive the effects of this attribute. Both groups of
people grow as this trait gets exemplified even in one person’s life. So how
does one gain such an important characteristic? How a person’s parents brought
them up can make a huge difference in how they act and confront problems. If
they have seen their parents or others they love exhibit this trait, they will
likely try to live out these actions. While enduring various trials, people
must realize that God blesses and molds them through various hardships and
sufferings to make them more like him. Endurance not only touches those who
receive the benefits, but all those around. It rubs off on those who cannot
endure on their own, but with encouragement from those stronger, they too can
continue. People who press on, God uses as examples and heroes for younger
generations to show them how tribulations do not put them down, but offer an
opportunity for people to rise up, honoring Christ and following His example
while they do so. Those who endure hardship not only touch people’s lives in
various ways from encouraging them to showing them how to honor Christ during
tribulation, but they also grow through their suffering.
The
character trait endurance can affect both people and situations. While attempting the grueling task of finishing my many school
subjects, without determination, my schoolwork would not get completed. Though
I may not feel like it or I just do not get a certain problem, I could conquer
both issues with endurance and by sticking to it I would eventually succeed.
Endurance pushes its students to another level. Talking about taking it to
another level, Ernest Shackleton, the captain of the Endurance certainly
did. He and his crew of twenty-seven men
set out in hopes of becoming first to cross the polar continent. However, their
ship was wrecked and all the men were stranded in Antarctic. “Cheeks were
drained and white, eyes were bloodshot from the salt spray and the fact that
the men had slept only once in the past four days. Matted beards had caught the
snow and frozen into a mass of white. Shackleton searched their faces for an
answer to the question that troubled him most: How much more could they take?” After
almost two years from their starting date, all of them returned safely home. In
this case and situation, these men succeeded where others would have failed. Furthermore,
they persevered through freezing temperatures, little to no sleep, and even had
to kill their dogs to keep from starving to death. Without this vital character
trait, they would not have survived. Many other times people have succeeded in
things they could only have accomplished, because they obtained this vitally
important trait. These people who live out the quality of endurance influencing
their fellow men and by surviving their ordeals come out victorious by changing
the original outcome of their present situation.
In closing, someone
who possesses this quality can help many people, because it gives them a good
role model to follow. Endurance can get labeled as admirable or even more
estimable when played out in life of someone much loved. It is what keeps
someone going though they may want to lose hope and give up. Both sets of my
grandparents have honorably displayed this attribute through thirty surgeries
or more between them, broken bones, and other health issues. However, that does
not stop them from, by God’s grace, loving and caring for others. My own
“trials,” struggling with a math lesson or enduring one
more excruciating quarter in a soccer game, seem nothing in comparison to
theirs. Never the less, I could never have accomplished them without endurance.
Our trials, on the other hand fall off the bottom of the chart when compared to
Jesus Christ’s. He went through extreme hardship. Loosing friends and receiving
slander and mistreatment, Christ bore the entire world’s sin on His pure,
sinless self. Through all of this he showed exemplary endurance. We also, as
Christians, aided by Jesus Christ, can honor Him by following in his footsteps,
endure our crosses, and run with endurance the race that He has set before us.
It takes endurance to climb a mountain(:
