The Cross

I recently finished John Piper's book The Roots of Endurance. It explores the lives of John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce in light of their individual struggles through which they displayed unequaled perseverance. Being a runner as well as a natural "driver," the concept of endurance has challenged and invigorated me both in my physical as well as spiritual life. Since high school, I have seen God's grace in allowing me to come to know this endurance experientially. How thankful I am for the growth, even when it hurts!
The overriding thrust of Piper's book was not simply to endure, but to know why we can and should endure. We have a hope that we press toward with assurance--the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14)--we run with endurance the race set before us, looking to Jesus (Heb. 12:1-2). Christ is the reason we have hope, which is the reason we can and should endure. Whether suffering or not, our hope can remain intact, undefiled. But all this is possible only because of the Cross. Christ's death, burial, and resurrection make this a living hope (I Pet. 1:3). The Gospel should be as real and important and fresh in my mind today as the day I first accepted its truth. The Cross provides the hope which leads of joyful endurance. I am not able nor responsible for conjuring up enough "energy" to sustain my level of endurance. My energy is sourced in the living reality of Christ's cross.
"But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of out Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Gal. 6:14