To ‘endure all things’

In November 2021, the spaceship Endurance made a successful flight to the International Space Station. Its name is certainly fitting, as the word stands for resilience, fortitude, persistence, and stamina – qualities that space travel requires.

The words “endure” and “endurance” should be seen in a much more positive light than they sometimes are today. While they can call up images of endless labor and suffering, they should actually inspire us to know that, despite challenges, we can be victorious and complete any necessary task at hand.

The great value of endurance is clear in the Bible. For instance, as Christ Jesus sent his disciples forth to preach and heal, he acknowledged that they would face many trials and obstacles but told them, “He that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 10:22). He recognized that because the disciples were demonstrating God, Truth, they would be able to go forward and would be saved through God’s healing grace. The Apostle Paul saw endurance as a necessary quality of love. He wrote to early Christians in Corinth that charity, or love, “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (I Corinthians 13:7).

The elevated understanding of endurance as an expression of Love, God, remains an indispensable ingredient of our relationships and experiences today. Without this understanding, the creativity, affection, strength, consistency, and knowledge that we reflect as God’s spiritual image and likeness would bear no fruit. No enterprise would be worth the effort. If we want to conquer the wrongs of the world, we must begin by recognizing divine Love’s allness and our inherent ability, as Love’s offspring, to endure through Love. Paul consistently put such endurance into practice in his life, and his efforts were vitally important in establishing the early Christian Church.

The discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote in the Preface of the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” “In the spirit of Christ’s charity, – as one who ‘hopeth all things, endureth all things,’ and is joyful to bear consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick, – she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth” (p. xii). Biographies of Mrs. Eddy confirm that she persevered amid the many persecutions concomitant to her efforts to share her discovery with all humanity. She wrote, “I love mankind, and shall continue to labor and to endure” (Science and Health, p. 99).

We can be confident that our prayer-grounded efforts to endure will be successful. A friend of mine, a Christian Scientist, proved this. The entire adult population of our state was given a monetary refund under the conditions of a state law. After most people had received their checks, my friend still had not. When she learned from her bank that her check had been cashed, she realized that it must have been stolen. Two government agencies were involved in the attempted recovery of the funds. My friend’s prayers acknowledged no possibility of failure, since God, Truth, is forever just and God’s expression, man, is always upright.

My friend was earnest in affirming how God was beholding all those involved: not as mortals perpetrating or being victimized by a crime, or trying to enforce the law, but as God’s loved, honest, capable children. She also knew that her true identity – which is completely spiritual – couldn’t be stolen from her and that a firm understanding of this would help to bring the truth to light. Her daily prayers were pure, faithful, and diligent.

After six months with no resolution, my friend received notice that the case had been closed; yet this did not deter her. She continued praying, knowing that the only true authority governing the situation was the omnipotent law of divine Love. Her neighbors and family, who did not expect her to receive the money, were happily shocked when, three months later, she got a call saying that everything was resolved and her check was reissued to her. To quote my friend, “I knew that God’s peace and harmony and justice do reign.”

We can be diligent when praying about any problem, physical or moral. The foe of a right endeavor is the false intelligence, or “enmity against God,” that Paul referred to as “the carnal mind” (Romans 8:7). We can understandingly disbelieve in any power or existence of this false intelligence through obedience to the First Commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3), which attributes all power to God. As God’s loved children, we can happily endure, strengthened by His eternal power and love.

Adapted from an article published in the Sept. 30, 2024, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.