Endure

I've been watching The Bible on The History Channel and last night's episode showed Christ’s Crucifixion. Maybe it’s because I’m older or more motherly but watching Jesus die gutted me to the core. It physically hurt me. And this may sound sick, but I think I should watch it everyday. Like it totally puts my petty little problems into perspective. While watching, I noticed something that I’ve never noticed before. When Jesus was forced to carry the cross, it occurred to me that he didn't just lift the cross and walk with it.... he embraced it. Whenever he dropped it, he’d go right back to it and hug it. I swear I even saw him kiss it at one point, but that could be Hollywood. Since watching Christ die, one word has been ringing louder and louder in my ear. The word "endure". I googled the definition and it means, "to suffer patiently. To tolerate someone or something." So here's my question: what current issue has God placed before us that we’re refusing to endure? What areas of life are we refusing to suffer patiently in? I’m claustrophobic. I hate elevators, airplanes, all those scary, enclosed spaces. I basically can't stand smothering of any kind. Physically. Emotionally. You name it. So my first, natural reaction when anything gets too hard or uncomfortable is to get the heck out of dodge. And unfortunately, we live in a day and age that welcomes such faulty thinking. Hate your body? Take a pill. Have surgery. God forbid you endure a diet. Unhappy in your marriage? Leave. Find someone new. Hate your job? Quit. File unemployment. Our world knows nothing of endurance. I know nothing of endurance! I still get surprised when something bad happens to me. And as much as I hate to admit it, I still have a part of me that feels entitled to a cush life. James 1 says to consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials. It  doesn’t say “if” you face trials. It says, “when” you face trials. 1 Peter 4:12, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”  The Bible is soaked with verses on suffering, but here’s my food for thought. If God allowed His Beloved and Only Son to suffer, for His glory, why do we think He wouldn’t also allow us to suffer? Are we so pompous that we feel beneath suffering? I still have days where I so badly want to stay in my little box. Where I don't want to get out of the boat, as Peter did, and walk on water to Jesus. How is this enduring my cross? If all of life is for the glory of God, how can I not welcome suffering? Embrace it. Kiss it? Romans 8:18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” On the walk to Golgotha, Christ got it. He understood that this was all for God’s glory so he endured. He hugged His cross and carried it to glory. What, in all of life, could be harder than that?