BBD 12.09.14 The Mountain of Life (Classic)
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The Burning
Bush Devotional
Classic
from 2007
12.09.14
The
Mountain of Life
And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that
tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character,
hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. - Romans 5:3-5 NKJV.
I have heard of the New York City Marathon and the
Boston Marathon where the course is 26.2 miles and I am always
incredibly impressed by the endurance of those who can even finish such a race.
However, I have recently learned of an even more difficult race. It is a
100-mile endurance race and one of those races is run in Vermont. Their website
says, “The Vermont 100 Endurance Race is one of the
original 100 mile runs in the USA and a part of the Grand Slam series of Ultrarunning.
Each year, 300 runners attempt to finish this hilly race over beautiful Vermont
back roads and trails under the 30 hour cutoff point, and a well-trained few
finish in under 24 hours. The current course record is 14:53:09.” Now that really is incredible and you have to have
endurance to finish that race!
Endurance is defined as (1
ability to bear prolonged hardship: the ability or power to bear prolonged
exertion, pain, or hardship; (2 toleration of hardship: toleration of prolonged
suffering or hardship; (3 persistence over time: the survival or persistence of
something despite the ravages of time. When
I was in college the last time, I considered entering a doctoral program. One professor shared with me some of his experiences in
obtaining his doctorate and graduate school in general. He summed it up by
saying it was just an “endurance
contest.” He said there were many people who were
intelligent enough, and even more intelligent than he was, but they did not
endure long enough to receive their degree.
According to the apostle Paul, the problems, trials, and
tribulations of life require “perseverance,” or as the KJV puts it, “patience.” It sounds like Paul is saying there are some
things in life that require endurance. To live the Christian life requires that
we endure the temptations of this world, the flesh, and the devil. To live a
Christian life we must persevere in the face of harsh and critical words from
those around us. We must persevere with kindness in return for the hateful
things, which are sometimes done to us. We must persevere in the face of
temptation; resisting for one more day.
As we persevere day by day, over time we will see that
Paul was right. Over time, we will see that the perseverance develops
character, and this godly character produces hope. In many ways, life is like a
climb to the top of Mt. Everest. Stacy Allison, the first American woman to climb to the summit of
Everest said this, “The end of the ridge and
end of the world... then nothing but that clear, empty air. There was nowhere
else to climb. I was standing on the top of the world.” Let us keep on climbing to new heights with Jesus
because some bright shining day we too will stand on the top of our mountain, a
mountain called, “Life.”
Copyright © 2007-2014. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
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