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Topic: Endurance (03/22/04)
TITLE: Birds of a Feather By KAREN FASIG 03/26/04 |
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The stop sign couldn’t have been placed at a more opportune spot. The honking geese brought my attention from the road to the sky. What appeared to be hundreds, but was probably only fifty or sixty, formation-flying geese passed over head returning from their winter retreat in the south. Blind adherence to following their leader the goal of each.
Never deterring from their charted course, each held his place in perfect unison with the leader. Rebellion or self-engrandisement never seemed to be an option. Endurance to reach their destination with complete cooperation the only goal.
God has placed large and small examples of endurance throughout His world. The salmon that swims unrelentingly upstream to the delight of the ravenous grizzly bears waiting for their breakfast. The mammoth humpback whale that travels to feed in the cold north waters of the Atlantic and then heads to the Caribbean’s warm tropical waters to give birth. The lowly ant that works non-stop to supply its nest for the coming winter and the ever-reviled cockroach that seems to endure time itself.
Many would call these examples of instinct rather than endurance and that may be true, but they can be viewed as how God would have us live our lives. Blind adherence to His Word, relentless pursuit of the unsaved whatever the cost to our own lives may be, unyielding stamina to work for Him through storm or calm, are the calls upon those who have accepted His ultimate example of endurance.
Christ, whose endurance can never be matched. The glorious thing is that God doesn’t expect us to match Christ. He knows we aren’t capable of that type of endurance. However He does expect the following of Christ, no matter the circumstances, to be the ultimate goal of our lives.
When our relatives ridicule us for our beliefs, when that unsaved friend or co-worker smirk behind your back, when that person you just told about Christ refuses your invitation to pray with them; Christ’s example of endurance should be our stalwart example.
If the fowls of the air, the fish of the seas, and the bugs of the ground have endurance that makes us marvel, shouldn’t those of us who belong to Christ at least attempt endurance.
Keep on keeping on, as the old saying goes. The geese don’t quit, the whales don’t quit nor do the salmon or the ant. All continue on in their respective roles here on earth and so should we who profess to be owned by Christ. Endurance for Him until He returns to gather His church to Himself is all He asks of us.
May your endurance be like the reviled cockroach and last for all time.