Perseverance: Enduring Hardship and Suffering

I'm a hobby woodworker and have been since I was a kid. When I first started working with wood, all my tools were hand-tools: a saw, a hammer, a hand-drill with bits, and a file. Over the years I've collected many tools-both power and hand-tools. I've come to appreciate the unique capabilities of tools like a finishing plane and a biscuit joiner. The spiritual disciplines, or following skills as I like to call them, are much like tools. Some of the more common tools in our walk with Christ are prayer and reading the Bible. But I think many of us are "tool-poor." That is, we're only accustomed to using a few tools in our relationship with Christ. As a result, we're somewhat limited in our overall skills as His followers.Imagine trying to build a nice cabinet with only a hammer and saw.Perseverance is like that tool that no serious woodworker should be without. Yet, as a spiritual discipline, perseverance is all too often absent from our lives. Jesus and the writers of the New Testament all warned us that we would experience hardship and suffering in this life. But, it's so easy to quit; it's so easy to give in.Perseverance is the tool we need for enduring trials and responding to them in a godly manner. We also need perseverance to resist temptation and flee from sin. In Paul's last letter to Timothy he encouraged him, "But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship." (2 Timothy 4:5) You and I need to "Endure hardship, persevere, and hang in there." But some of you may be asking, "Why? Why should I persevere?" That's the question we seek to answer in this book as well as show you how to persevere.