Leadership Thought: Some Medicine from Dr. James for Avoiding Pity Parties.

Dear Friends

Did you ever feel like quitting, giving up, quitting the race? Maybe you were tired, discouraged, overwhelmed, feeling like your arms were tied to two horses who were each pulling in opposite directions. I suspect we all have had times like these  when we wondered if we were  going to make it through the next hour let alone the next day.

Former professional basketball coach Pat Riley writes, “There always comes a time when giving up is easier than standing up, when giving in looks more attractive than digging in. And in those moments character may be the only thing that you have to draw on to keep you going.” What is he saying? Simply, you ‘gotta’ be steadfast.

I looked up steadfastness in the dictionary, and I found the following descriptions: “Firmly fixed in place”, “not subject to change”, “firm in belief”, and  “determination.” These are all great words to describe the race we run as believers, a race we are all called to run with perseverance. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”(Heb 12:1-2).

It is one thing to rejoice when things are going well for us, but James tells us that we are to rejoice when things are not going well for us, when we face rejection, loss, suffering, both physical and emotional, and all of the other things that would seek to rob us of our joy. Listen to his prescriptive wisdom: “Consider it pure joy…….whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, (and) perseverance must finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4).”

In his book The Strength of a Man, David Roper writes, “The key to reacting with joy is to know that the pain of life is purposeful. Suffering has meaning, adversity is working for us, producing endurance. Endurance is not mere resignation, tooth clenched determination to tough it out to the end.  That may be stoic, but it isn’t Christian. James understood endurance as simple persistence,  doing God’s will in the face of counter-influences, forgiving slights and unkindness for the four hundred and nineteenth time, staying with a difficult marriage, forgiving someone who has torn out your heart, struggling against enslaving habits, showing purity of mind and body when to do so means lonely days and long nights, keeping one’s word despite the pain of keeping it, and obeying it when life is hard and when it hurts.”

Wow, I needed to hear our brother James dispense a valuable dose of wisdom to encourage my endurance, and Dr. Roper to give me a healthy spiritual reminder that steadfastness encompasses more just getting through life with “tooth clenched” determination. Life can be tough. Life’s journey often includes  more than just dancing through the daisies, or tip toeing through the tulips. It can become so overwhelming that we wonder if we can ever make it to the finish line.

No, the Christian  life is not for the faint of heart, and pity parties are not planned for believers.  I leave you with the words of the late New Testament commentator William Barclay, who writes “Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”

"Thanks be to God who gives us the victory that overcomes the world" (1 Cor. 15:57).

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom