EVERYONE, AT SOME point, will find themselves having to endure some difficult and ongoing situation or circumstance. It could be something physical, like a prolonged illness or other disabling condition. It could be social, like a deteriorating relationship or an awkward work environment. The challenges can be large or small, but even the small ones can wear you down over time. The challenges can catch you by surprise, or be the consequence of choices you had to make, despite knowing the difficulties in advance.

From time to time, for example, I’ve found myself in a temporary administrative role that I never wanted. As often happens in higher education, particularly in Christian contexts, we have to work with limited personnel and resources, and people may wear many hats. In such an environment, I could in theory say no, but to do so would mean that someone else with less seniority would end up paying the price of my refusal. So I did my part and agreed to take on the administrative responsibilities. I had to think to myself, It’s the right thing to do, and hey, it’s just a quarter, or, It’s just a year. I guess I can endure that.

If the truth be told, though, I wasn’t happy about it. I’d like to be able to say that I was grateful for the opportunity to serve my institution, my colleagues, and our students in that way. But I wasn’t. I tried to discharge my responsibilities responsibly, but my heart wasn’t in it, and I always felt like I was gutting it out.

Not everyone is suited to be an administrator, or at least what I would consider to be a good administrator. But the reality is that we’re often called to do things that don’t suit us, or stretch us beyond our comfort zones. We can just grit our teeth and grind itout; but Paul seems to think that more is possible. Even in situations that test our endurance, we can still know both joy and gratitude.

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AS WE’VE SEEN, Paul and Timothy pray that through the Holy Spirit, the Colossians would have the wisdom to know God’s will. This will enable them to walk in God’s way, with every aspect of their lives lived in a way that befits the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul describes what such a life entails:

…bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. (Col 1:10-12, NIV)

Again, Paul uses the metaphor of fruitfulness to refer to both the growth of the gospel throughout the Roman Empire, and the spiritual growth of the Colossians. Here, he adds a prayer for them to be “strengthened with all power according to his glorious might.” Personally, I’d prefer to translate that last phrase as “the might of his glory.” To a Jew like Paul, the glory of God itself was something to be revered and feared. Moses himself asked God to show him his glory, but God replied that no one could see his face and live (Exod 33:20). The Israelites were even afraid to come near Moses after he had met with God, for his face still glowed from being in God’s presence (Exod 34:29-30).

To a Jew, then, the might of God’s glory was mighty indeed. This, I think, is part of the background to what Paul tells the Philippians in his letter to them:

…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Phil 2:12-13)

The very idea of the God of the universe working in believers to do his will? If we have any inkling of the immensity of God’s glory and majesty, that’s not something to be taken lightly.

Thus, whatever it was that the Colossians had to endure, Paul prays that God would strengthen them in a way commensurate with his own might. That’s real power. And such power would help them both to endure and to be patient. The word for “endure” suggests the ability to bear up under pressure, while the word “patience” suggests what the King James Version called “long-suffering,” or what I like to think of as having “a long fuse.”

But again, Paul doesn’t seem to be describing a grit-your-teeth-and-bear-it kind of endurance. Alongside endurance and patience, he puts joy and gratitude. But joy in what? Gratitude for what? Does he want them to jump up and down and gleefully clap their hands over whatever circumstances are causing them to need endurance in the first place?

No. Christian joy isn’t some masochistic satisfaction in suffering, nor a smile-at-all-costs kind of denial. We don’t rejoice for difficulties, we rejoice in the midst of them — because we can see beyond them to the bigger picture of God’s grace and his plan of redemption.

This is, for example, the joy of the apostles after they had been flogged by the Sanhedrin; they rejoiced because “they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:41). They didn’t enjoy the flogging itself, but they could see in their own suffering the suffering of Jesus, and counted it a privilege. This is the joy of Paul himself, who finds glory in suffering because he can see beyond it to the perseverance, character, and hope it will produce (Rom 5:3-4).

So it is here in his letter to the Colossians. He wants them to have the kind of endurance and patience that is also characterized by joy and thankfulness, the kind of gratitude that’s able to see beyond whatever challenges the Colossians are facing.

But what is it that Paul wants them to see? He’s already said it: God has given them the privilege of sharing in the inheritance of God’s people. We’ll explore that idea next.