Endurance

  The movie “Unbroken” is the cinematic portrayal of the life of WWII hero Louis Zamperini, who spent much of the war as a captive in Japanese prisoner of war camps.  It is an amazing true story of courage and perseverance in the face of extreme pain and suffering.
          The strength of character that helped Zamperini endure such incredible adversity during the war was forged earlier in his life.  As a youngster, he was always getting in trouble, making choices that were setting him on a course for failure.  Thankfully, his older brother, Pete, intervened at a critical point in Louie’s young life.  He saw some athletic potential in his younger brother and tells him: “You keep going the way you’re going, you’ll end up as a bum on the street. You train. You fight harder than those other guys and you win. If you can take it, you can make it. You can do this, Lou, you just gotta believe you can. Pop does. Ma does. I do. Louie, a moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory.”  To his credit, young Louie listens and changes the whole course of his life.
          “A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory.”  This is a universal truth that applies to any worthwhile endeavor. Jesus believed it.  The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus endured the cross and the shame that accompanied it because He kept his focus on the joy beyond the suffering (Hebrews 12:2).  For Jesus, the road to exaltation ran through the dark valley of emptying, humbling, and suffering (Philippians 2:7-11).  Paul believed it.  Paul knew that “momentary, light affliction” in his life was producing an incomparable “eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).   According to Paul, the sufferings of this world weren’t worthy of being compared to the glory of the world to come (Romans 8:18).
          Does knowing these things make our suffering less painful? No.  But perhaps it can give us some measure of strength to endure it.

God loves you!
Mike