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ENDURING HARDNESS

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 10, 1900

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 15.

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ENDURING HARDNESS.

By Uriah Smith

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” 2 Tim. 2:3. These were the words of Paul to Timothy, his beloved son in the gospel. They open before us a wide field of Christian obligation and Christian duty. There stands out sharply on the foreground of the declaration, the idea that there is a warfare being waged, and that we all have a part therein, as soldiers of Jesus Christ. Then the mind instinctively turns to a consideration of the qualifications a soldier should possess, and the duties in which he should show himself true to his calling. The language is an exhortation to a definite course of conduct, based upon a distinct statement of position. The position he states to be that of a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and the duty to be that of enduring hardness.
Many considerations naturally cluster about this subject: First of all, a soldier must possess a brave and courageous heart. What is it to be brave? Many a one has been accounted brave, and his deeds have been lauded to the skies as the great achievements of a hero, when he felt confident that he could safely trust in his own strength; and the circumstances were such as to make him feel sure of the victory, or at least of a way of escape. To be apparently bold under such circumstances is not bravery. To go forward with an enterprise when one feels that there is little or no danger—this is not heroism. This was not the bravery that Paul displayed. He was a tent-maker, not a sailor; yet he tells us that he was thrice shipwrecked, and a night and a day was in the deep. Here were dangers which, from a human point of view, superseded all his powers; but he was ready to face these over and over again, for the sake of the principles for which he contended. This was the bravery of a good soldier of Jesus Christ; but he made no boast of it. It dwells on his mind only long enough for him to make a bare mention of it, for the sake of the lesson it might contain for others.
But some will dare dangerous and hazardous things, if multitudes are looking on, ready to greet any apparent heroism with shouts of applause. Their thirst for glory inspires them to deeds of apparent valor. This was not Paul’s kind. For the sake of Christ he could take pleasure in infirmities, reproaches, weaknesses, and shame. He could be beaten with stripes, stoned, imprisoned, and counted the filth and offscouring of all things, and yet swerve not one hair from the path of duty. That is the bravery of a good soldier of Jesus Christ; and that is some of the hardship he is called to endure. Christ’s army has no room for cowards. The ranks are not numerous enough to cover and conceal the timid. One can not skulk into obscurity in the ranks of the great army. Every one has his blow to strike, his post to maintain. We are to “stand like the brave, with our face to the foe.”
“Whatever thy danger, take heed and beware. And turn not thy back; for no armor is there.”
The necessity of the conduct we are to maintain, is seen when we look at the character of the foes with which we have to contend. These foes are described as the world, the flesh, and the devil. But when we speak of fighting against Satan, there is this always to be remembered, that the war to be waged is against one possessed of the three chief faculties which go to make any malignant spirit oppressive to a struggling heart; for Satan is possessed of natural capacities of wide-reaching science, and of large experience. Besides all this, he is seconded by the power within us, which, from its intimate connection with our animal organism, and the groveling direction of all its tendencies, can best be epitomized in its character, as the flesh. The flesh is a traitor that makes a concordat with Satan. The world is an enemy fierce and subtle. It accumulates the force of the principles that enter into the natural heart, which tend to undermine the spiritual life.
The character of these enemies with which, as soldiers of Jesus Christ, we have to contend, is marked by three features: (1) Craft or deceitful cunning; (2) patient persistence in recurrent and well-timed attacks upon our weakest points; (3) seductiveness, or deception, in order to overcome suspicions or fear of evil. This is to disguise from ourselves the reality, or minimize the strength, of the forces opposed to us. This will lead us to become careless and confident of victory, or to fall into an error equally dangerous; that is, to lose sight of the fact that as the attacks are renewed again and again, there is a promise of renewed assistance to meet them; and not seeing that, we yield to a craven fear of ultimate defeat.
And how are we to meet an enemy of so formidable a kind?—Paul says, as good soldiers. And how are we to act the part of good soldiers?—By faith. The illuminating power and the dominating strength of faith must rule. This, coupled with the honest simplicity of the gospel and with Christian patience, will sustain us in the conflict. Patience has been described as “love exerting itself to resistance.” “Ye have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Faith enables us to believe that by standing our ground, in the strength of Christ, we shall eventually win. These considerations amount to just this: That we should endure hardness as good soldiers; not that we should be callous, but that we should cultivate all the Christian virtues, with unbending resolution and persistent determination in crushing pride and passion. God himself has entered the arena, and is ready with his help; and we have the example of a jubilant company of good soldiers who have preceded us in this blessed warfare, for our encouragement.
Taking, then, a general view of the situation, we find ourselves held by these conclusions: That if we are Christians, we are every one of us soldiers, carrying on a deadly warfare with enemies watchful and alert, who never lose sight of us. It is a life-long contest. The battle ground is our own soul. The foe we have to beat down is sin in its ever-varying forms. We are alone to fight and conquer, seen only, perhaps, and aided and guided only, by the great Captain of our salvation, who watches all the circumstances, and guides all the movements of his mighty hosts.
And very useful advice is set before us in these words of Paul to Timothy. We are to remember that it is not an easy thing, as the sluggard counts ease, to be a Christian, any more than it is a listless, holiday affair to be a soldier. The cross is a nobler thing to fight for than any of the causes for which men take up carnal weapons. It calls for effort, self-denial, and unrelaxed endurance. “Endure hardness” might be paraphrased like this: “Take thy share of labor and sufferings as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
The army of the Lord has behind it the noblest of traditions. Through the exertions of those early warriors it is that we have possession of all the blessings that we enjoy, in the privileges of the gospel. To their courage, zeal, and love for souls we owe the treasures which Christianity has brought to us. Let us emulate their zeal and courage, not forgetting that we belong to a victorious army. We are on the prevailing side.
Other reasons why we should heed the injunctions the apostle lays upon us, are many and obvious. It is due to the character of the great Master whom we serve. We look up to the great Captain of our salvation, and every motive that can nerve the human heart combines to inspire us with dauntless courage and fortitude. The necessities of the work demand the same qualities,—time shortening, wickedness increasing, souls perishing, the end coming. We must conquer or be conquered; there is no other alternative; sink or swim; live or die. And the endurance of hardness; the practice of self-denial, watchfulness, devotion, and earnestness, are not only conditions of the victory, but they are themselves a part of the victory.
Again: the abundance of the reward calls us to all these efforts. It is the free, sovereign grace and love of God that first calls the soul to the new life. But when the soul once enlists in the ranks of the soldiers of the cross, then God holds out before it the recompense of the reward. Again, we are prompted to the virtues of a soldier, because fearfulness and cowardice are under a curse. “Curse ye Meroz, . . . curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” Judges 5:23. A soldier who is not brave, and who can not endure the conditions of a campaign, would be regarded no soldier at all. Bravery, endurance, victory—these stand together. Fearfulness, flight, captivity—these stand over against them on the other side. The first are the necessities of a Christian life; the second are not merely pardonable weaknesses, but, in a soldier of the cross, are a deadly sin, which must be overcome like any other sin.
The command to endure hardness is a call to more service in the complex system of life of which we are all members. The individuals of the church of Christ form a union together, not for themselves alone, but to benefit others. We do not unite to get, but to give. We do not come together merely for spiritual fellowship, but for practical work. The church is not to choose her own work; that is chosen, and laid out for her, by the Lord of the harvest. Each age brings a new task; and her work never was more clear than now. It is to erect a barrier against the deadly assaults of unbelief, and to promote and revive the crowning graces of Christian faith and Christian love.
Paul’s language calls the Christian soldier to more sacrifice. Let us have faith enough in eternity to be willing to take our share of labor and hardness necessary to secure a satisfying portion in the inheritance to be given.
The great truth, then, that we are soldiers, carries with it three inevitable duties: (1) The will of the soldier should be wholly absorbed in the will of his captain. What progress would a soldier make, and what would he accomplish, to strike out on a little enterprise of his own, entirely independent of the plan of the campaign, the will of the commander, and the co-operative efforts of his companions in arms? (2) He must cultivate and exhibit true bravery, meeting every danger without the least symptom of hesitation, compromise, or retreat; (3) He is to endure hardness, pressing the battle to the gate, till all opposition is laid low, knowing that our Leader has not called us to anything we can not perform, and that he has not undertaken any enterprise which he can not, and will not, bring to a successful termination.
U. S.