Examples of Steadfastness, Part 2
Selected Scriptures
March 17, 2024
Many of you have exercise routines. You enjoy getting out in the morning and running for 30-60 minutes, or heading to the gym after work to lift some weights and put in some cardio work. I’m guessing that none of us has a workout routine like Candice Burt.
On May 24 last year, she woke up in her home in Boulder, CO, had some granola and coffee for breakfast and then went to her favorite bagel shop for a bagel. So far, so good. And then, despite an “epic thunderstorm” she ran a marathon — 26.2 miles. It was a kind of “cool down.” Because the day before she had run a little more than an ultramarathon, which is 50 kilometers. In miles, an ultramarathon is 31.068 miles, so to make sure she ran a true ultramarathon, she ran 32 miles. And then cooled off the next day with a simple marathon. Remarkable.
Except the remarkable feat was not that she ran 32 miles the day before running a marathon — it’s that for 200 days in a row she ran 32 miles — and then “cooled down” with the marathon on May 24. For 6-1/2 months, every single day she ran 32 miles. In snow, sleet, rain, and sun, she ran. At home, and on vacation, she ran (even in the dark at 2 a.m. after landing for a late night flight to Hawaii). In 200 days, she ran 6400 miles — almost equivalent to running from Seattle, WA to Fort Meyers, FL — and back. What do you do after that? An interviewer wrote: “Burt doesn’t have a specific goal for what’s next. She’s curious about the idea of a record-pushing cross-country run, but doesn’t have a plan yet. Mostly she’s happy to be around her home more, with her daughters and dogs. On Thursday, she planned to taper down with a 20-mile run. You know, a relaxing distance like that.”
You hear stories like that and you just can’t imagine the endurance that it would take. And you think, “I like to exercise, but nope, not me. No way.”
As remarkable as that story is, there are many more stories of greater endurance spiritually. Pressures and weights that have been put on people and in spite of those pressures, they have remained faithful to Christ (consider Heb. 11, esp. vv. 36-38). And some of you are in similar difficulties that are tempting you to give up on Christ. The Bible would have us understand that our circumstances are not unique and that others in similar situations have stayed the course. So this morning let us look at the stories of four individuals and how they remained steadfast in hard, but typical circumstances. As we look at these situations, we learn…
Steadfastness is possible in every circumstance because God’s grace is sufficient.
When enticed to despair, consider four examples of faithfulness in the Bible:
- Joseph: He Resisted When He Was Tempted (Gen. 39)
- Philemon: He Forgave When He Was Sinned-Against (Philemon)
- Job: He Worshipped When He Was Sick (Job 2)
- An Unnamed Father: He Believed When His Faith was Weak (Mk. 9:14-27)
- Summary: Your Circumstances May Be Hard, but They Are Typical (and God’s grace is sufficient) (1 Cor. 10:13)
Download the rest of this sermon on Examples of Steadfastness (Pt 2).
The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.
Words of Grace 