But as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything

2 Corinthians 6:4-10

Life is full of mountaintops and valleys, right? We’ve experienced the birth of children and grandchildren, the loss of close family members, family pain, and the joy of just being together, and through it all we have found Christ to be faithful in all things.

In the passage above, Paul describes and contrasts the kind of life to be experienced as a Christ follower. Paul’s adventure was not all marked by highlights and we can learn the importance of endurance through “afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger…as having nothing, yet possessing everything.”

Some erroneously teach that the life of the Christian should be without pain. It is a dangerous doctrine I’ve heard many times and it fails to take into account the message of Paul in the verses above.

Take some time to consider what it means to endure as Paul describes. We are intended to do more than survive, we should thrive despite the current circumstances of our lives.