“We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance;..”
II Corinthians 6:3-10, NIV
One of the major spiritual attributes that affirms and validates a person as a believer in Jesus Christ is their ability to endure and maintain their faith and trust in God, not only during moments of comfort but especially during difficulties and challenges. Theologians often refer to this as the “perseverance of the saints,” also known as “eternal security.” This is a Calvinist doctrine holding that those who are truly saved by God through Jesus Christ will ultimately persevere in their faith and cannot lose their salvation. This belief is grounded in the conviction that God’s power and grace are the ultimate source of salvation, not a person’s own efforts. It is not implied that a genuinely saved person will never struggle with sin or backslide; rather, they will ultimately repent, return to faith, and run and finish the race God assigns to them because God’s power keeps them secure.
Endurance is a characteristic that may be exercised like a muscle to increase its capacity. Just as one goes into the gym to lift weights to build stamina and strength, believers in Jesus Christ enter the gym of life to lift or endure pressures that test our strength and ability to maintain our faith and trust in God. Similar to the process of building muscle mass and strength, which involves eating correctly, taking vitamins or supplements, and lifting increasing amounts of weight over time, the Apostle Paul shares with us the process for building spiritual endurance through pressures using the provisions that God has provided. And just as weight training at times offers contradictory results, such as weight gain when one is trying to lose, our spiritual development also includes paradoxes.
THE PRESSURES
II Corinthians 6:4–5 reads, “Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger.” Paul identifies nine pressures in which he and other servants of God must exhibit great endurance as they obey God’s will for their lives and ministry. Paul does not diminish the challenge by engaging in false hyperspiritualization, as if the trials are not real. They are real. They are heavy. They are necessary. They are assigned by God. Yet Paul knows that, as recipients of God’s grace, there is help, favor, and deliverance available to them. They have not received the grace of God to no benefit or avail.
God calls us to trials and tribulations, and He supplies the grace needed to sustain us through them. What pressures has God called us to during this season of our lives? Our pressures may be personal, financial, familial, relational, professional, emotional, educational, or political. Regardless of the type of pressure, it is important to embrace the biblical truth that God has called us to endure the trials assigned to us. And if God has called us to go through it, then God has made provision for us to bear up under it.
Often what we call “pressure,” God calls “preparation.” The weight we feel today may be the very thing God uses to strengthen us for tomorrow.
THE PROVISIONS
The Apostle Paul proceeds to share the grace of God available to him and all other servants of God who face trials as they live for God and do His will. II Corinthians 6:6–7 reads, “in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left.” Paul outlines the provisions of God’s grace available to us to develop endurance through pressures. We can look at these ‘provisions’ that Paul mentions as the diet, supplements, and spiritual proteins needed to develop our spiritual muscles and persevere through any of the many trials we will inevitably encounter in life.
He begins his list of graces with purity, knowledge, and long-suffering. These three graces are inward disciplines that speak to our intentional actions of our minds, emotions, and will that contribute to developing endurance. We ensure our motives are godly and grounded in love, we learn the knowledge needed in our situation, and we take on the mindset that we will suffer or demonstrate fortitude through the situation as long as God allows it to remain. One old spiritual writer said, “The soul must be strengthened by inward exercises, or it will faint in outward trials.”
The second set of graces seems to address our outward actions or fruit that help us endure: kindness, the Holy Spirit, and love. These graces arise from the inward reality of the indwelling Holy Spirit. They are the fruit of walking and living in the Spirit as taught in Galatians 5:16–26, “since we live in the Spirit, we should walk in the Spirit”, showing that endurance is not merely surviving pressure but remaining Christlike and Spirit-filled under it.
The last set of graces: truthful speech, the power of God, and the armor of righteousness. These reflect the graces we use to engage in effective and fervent prayer and spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:10–19). Paul concludes by acknowledging that although we have these graces to help us endure, they do not exempt us from the conflict between our eternal position of victory through Jesus Christ and our outward and seemingly unchanged earthly circumstances. This is what I call the ‘paradoxes’ of the believer’s life.
THE PARADOXES
Paul acknowledges nine paradoxes through which he endured. These are nine divine contradictions that shape the life of a believer. We find them in II Corinthians 6:8–10, listed as:
- … Glory and dishonor,
- …Bad report and good report;
- …Genuine, yet regarded as impostors;
- …Known, yet regarded as unknown;
- …Dying, and yet we live on;
- …Beaten, and yet not killed;
- …Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;
- …Poor, yet making many rich;
- …Having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
Similar to the provisions, Paul presents a set of paradoxes that may be grouped into what others think about us, what we experience, and what we appear to be.
Others may disagree with what God has called us to be or do and think that we are dishonorable. They may have a bad report about our work or perceive us as impostors because they did not authorize us, our calling, or our ministry. Yet God sees us as honorable, doing good, and being true to Him and His calling. We may experience a sense of being unknown, of dying, or of being beaten down. Yet God knows us, lives in us, and sustains our life.
Finally, we may appear to others as sorrowful, poor, with nothing to offer, or as having nothing; without influence and not worth listening to. However, in Jesus Christ we are always rejoicing, making many rich through Him, and it may appear as if we have nothing, yet in reality we possess everything that truly matters in this life.
In conclusion, while the pressures of our outward circumstances reflect one thing, the truth of God’s Word declares that we have the provision of grace to endure and to declare victory through the paradoxes. According to II Corinthians 4:7–9, “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
The Apostle Paul anchors these tensions in that comprehensive passage found in II Corinthians 4:16-18, which seems to sum up the paradoxes, while reminding us of the eternal victory that is ultimately ours. He says, “Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (II Corinthians 4:16–18).
Let us declare through the pressures, provisions, and paradoxes the truth of I Corinthians 15:57: “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
PRAYER
Father, Your Word declares that it is Your will that we are thankful in all things. Today, I thank You in the midst of the pressures of life. I trust that You have provided the grace needed to endure every stress I face. I thank You for the faith to trust in You despite the contradictions and paradoxes around me. Today, I stand victorious through Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.
DAILY SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE
➢ REFLECT upon your pressures as assigned by God only for a season.
➢ REVIEW the provisions of grace that are available to you to build endurance.
➢ RESPOND to your pressures by using the provisions of grace through the power of prayer and praise.
➢ REJOICE through the pressures and paradoxes, using your available provisions.
Published on Jan 27 @ 12:17 AM EDT
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