Determination for success and self improvement is not the same as endurance for hardship.
Determination is a form of self will to achieve a higher social standing like striving to enhance one's physical attributes or academic accolades. It is a form of striving in anticipation of a better life.
Endurance for hardship, on the contrary, enables one to come to terms with his or her circumstances and move on with Grace, and in the Christian perspective, knowing that "God is good, be it for the better or worse".
Determination for success does not develop endurance for hardship. In fact, constant striving for material well being undermines the appreciation of the humility one can learn from difficult times.
As Paul says,
Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,
Philippians 2:14-15 NASB
And we can only do this by holding eternal values, and not fleshly earthly ones. If we always view life with an expectation of a pot of gold over the rainbow we have created, our motives will no longer be gospel centric, but of the idol that we created for ourselves.
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
Colossians 3:2 NASB
No comments:
Post a Comment