hardship

Last night I read a letter Paul wrote to Timothy in which he instructs Timothy to endure hardship as a good soldier (2 Tim 2:3-4). Paul went on to say that no soldier who wants to please his master gets entangled in civilian affairs. I remembered the scripture again this morning and thought “Hmm . . . that word hardship rings a bell. Where did I read about a servant and hardship before? Why, it’s the parable of the Talents” (Mt 25:14-30). There were 3 servants given talents, with the idea that when the Master returned he would reward these servants for their faithfulness, with authority. However, one servant thought his master was too hard, so he did nothing with his talent. It seems that the servant in the parable did not like hardship.

I thought about how often we find ourselves entertaining a similar mindset, wanting to avoid the hardness of the task set before us. Since the Bible says we use our talents (or gifts, as Paul calls them) according to the faith God has given us (Rom 12:6), it is apparent that using these gifts can be hard.

What do we have faith for? In our personal lives, it is easy to have faith for our lives to be easy. We have faith for God to provide for us, and faith for Him to open doors of opportunity. Since God is powerful, we can imagine that He could and would do anything for us. This kind of faith isn’t hard.

What we have faith for, or don’t have faith for, tells a lot about our hearts. If our friend is wounded, our faith for their healing seems a good thing. But do we have faith to help them through their day? If our sister is broke and without work it is good to pray with her and have faith that God will provide. But do we have faith to give her money ourselves? Are we ever critical of those in need, thinking that God would fix their problems if only they had more faith? Perhaps what we should ask ourselves is if our faith is convenient and self-serving, or do we have a faith that seeks to please our Master? In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he said that the soldier sought to please his Master.

Paul’s instructions to Timothy included another example of enduring hardship. It is the athlete who has trained to run the race (2 Tim 2:5). Paul states that the athlete will only receive the prize if he runs according to the rules. In this age of grace we often do not think about rules being attached to our faith. What would God be looking for, concerning our faith? What comes to mind is that faith works through love (Gal 5:6). The acts we perform out of faith should come from love. If we look at the nature of love we will see that it suffers a long time, and is kind (1 Cor 13:4a KJV). Suffering sounds like enduring hardship, doesn’t it? Other qualities of love are that love bears with the weak. It values the brother that strays or is offensive, enough to pull him out of the fire (Jude 1:22-23), or seek reconciliation and restoration (Mt 5:23-24). These are hard things to do, and unpleasant. But in faith, working through love, we can do them.

Paul’s third example to Timothy is of a hardworking farmer (2 Tim 2:6). The farmer has worked hard producing a good harvest. He is blessed in his reaping, and that makes the hard work worth it. Bearing good fruit is not only important to God, but to us also. It is the quality of our walk with Him Who created us for good works (Eph 2:10).

In thinking about the soldier, I am reminded that Paul said the soldier would not get entangled in civilian affairs, or “affairs of this life” (KJV). Does it seem to you that the affairs we get sidetracked on might be those activities that are more pleasant than the hard work of our faith? Let us take another look at hardship today, not seeing it as something to avoid, but as a way to use our faith by the enduring power of love. Amen.