Jesus Christ taught us the condition for the salvation: we have to endure to the end.
Matthew 10:22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Jesus taught us that we should keep the faith to the end to be saved in the last day. That is why the disciple emphasized the patient endurance in our life of faith. We have to endure in every situation and stand firm to the end for the salvation.
Then how can we have such patience and endurance and be saved? There may happen many things in our life of faith that lead us away from the truth. The Bible teaches us about many people who left God for numerous reasons. Some went back to the world leaving God behind for the worldly pleasure, others to evade persecution. Some for the wealth, others for the fame.
There are many things that can be traps and snares in our life of faith. Then how can we overcome all these hardships and temptations, and stand firm to the end. Let us find out the answer through the bible.
In the Book of the First Corinthians, God teaches us about the people who kept the faith to the end by enduring all the hardships and tribulations of the world. This chapter is well-known as the chapter of the love of God. It teaches us about what love is. Ultimately it teaches us about God, who is the epitome of love.
1 Corinthian 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, 5 it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, 6 it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. 7 Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things.
The bible teaches us that we can endure everything through the love, that is, the love of God. When we realize the love of God, we cannot help but endure everything. Then what is the love of God that motivates us to endure and overcome everything that happens around us?
Apostle John teaches us about the love of God. He says over and again that God is love. Why does he emphasize love among so many characteristics of God. God is power, knowledge, wisdom, wonder, miracle, etc. He is calling God as love.
1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
Why does he highlight love in God? God has shown many other things too such as wonder, knowledge, wisdom, power. He did many miraculous things. Why is “love” praised as the main attribute of God? It is because whatever God has done He did and does those things out of love for his children.
All his wisdom, all his power, all his authority, all his glory, all of these have been displayed out of his love and pity. We are sinners from heaven and under the agony of death. We have been living on this earth as the slave of sin and death. God has love for these sinners and came down to this earth. He cancelled our sins by carrying our sins in our stead. He suffered the death to give us the forgiveness for the sins we committed.
John 3;16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God himself came down to this earth leaving the heavenly throne behind and he suffered in our stead taking up our sins and iniquities. When the disciples realized this love God had shown to them who are sinners, they had no choice but to endure whatever happens. They could complete the mission given to them even through the sacrifice of their life.
The same God who is love came down as the Spirt and the Bride to save us. Even though they are not guilty, they take up all our sins upon them and going though suffering in our stead. God is granting the full love of God to us the sinners of heaven and on this earth.
We also should realize the true love of God. When we realize the love God has shown to us, we also cannot help but endure everything because we know that nothing can be compared to the suffering Father and Mother go through for us. This realization gives us faith and we can endure and stand firm in the faith to the end.
Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The love of God gives us patient endurance and we can endure to the end.