What exactly does “endure to the end” apply to? For example does it mean . . . Staying in an abusive marriage? Suffering in a job commitment that no longer brings you joy? Persisting towards a goal against insurmountable odds? Continuing in a situation that is harmful to your self-esteem?
Or is it more about . . . Gracefully working through a trial? Struggling to overcome a bad habit? Patiently praying for a wayward child? Dealing with the effects of a natural disaster? Trying to live a righteous life to the end?
Perhaps the two lists are not mutually exclusive, so the comparisons may not effectively demonstrate my question - but keep reading anyway.
The scriptures are pretty clear that we are to endure all things. What does all things mean? Is it absolute? Does it apply in every aspect of our lives no matter what? Is there a black and white way to look at this or is it shades of grey? (I don’t typically love grey.)
What do the four of you who read my blog think? While there is probably only one good source for the answer to the real question I am subconsciously asking, I’m interested to hear what you think . . .
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6 comments:
While I have no sources or even any real information that I, if I were you, would rely on, I can give my opinion. I don't think enduring all things means staying in bad situations if there is a way to get out of them. Like most things that we want to end, we usually have to find something else to replace them, and that is where the patience comes in. I kind of think one of the reasons God gave us our intelligence is to figure our way out of things with dignity and integrity. So my idea of enduring to the end is more like your second paragraph: living life, the bad with the good, with grace and charity, while maintaining a strong testimony.
But I always am one for "spirit of the law" and not "letter of the law." :)
Every situation is different & so we cannot place judgement on what enduring is in each situation. I had a very wise bishop tell me at a very tring time about this ver subject of enduring...."the Lord expects you to FORGIVE but He doesn't expect you to stay in harms way & risk your own soul" I thought that was very profound. Sometimes enduring to the end is by not entering into a relationship that you know is wrong. Other times it is when you are in a relationship & you struggle & you work through it together. Enduring can also be suffering with physical or spirtitual pain or heartbreak & holding on to make it through the pain. There is so many times in our lives that we endure to the end & how we handle it is critical but we need to be in constant communication with the Lord in order to endure His will & not our own.
I think it means that at the end of the day, through everything you've gone through and trials you've encountered and decisions you've made, you should be able to say that you've kept the faith. I don't think it refers to any particular trial in life - just that you've remained firm in your commitment to covenants you've made.
Here's another one for you to ponder though... 13th Article of Faith - "We believe all things..." -- what on earth does that mean?? Kurt brought it up recently - and it's still stewing in our thoughts.
I really feel that enduring to the end pertains to living the gospel. I don't think it means putting up with things that are wrong, painful or destructive. Enduring refers (in my mind) to the ability to accept the will of the Lord in all things and for whatever length of time is required by Him. Does that make any sense...Anyway...that's how I look at that. Love ya!!!
Don't be alarmed by the length of my comment. All of it is a quote from Elder Neal A Maxwell, not my personal comments.
"On one of those rare occasions when His very voice was heard, the Father testified, “Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved” (2 Ne. 31:15.) Of all that the Father might have said, He stressed endurance. Why?
First, because God has repeatedly said He would structure mortality to be a proving and testing experience. (See Abr. 3:25; Mosiah 23:21.) Brothers and sisters, he has certainly kept His promise. He has carried out His divine intent, hasn’t He? Thus, even our fiery trials, said Peter, should not be thought of as “some strange thing.” (1 Pet. 4:12.) Hence, enduring is vital, and those who so last will be first spiritually!
…If certain mortal experiences were cut short, it would be like pulling up a flower to see how the roots are doing. Put another way, too many anxious openings of the oven door, and the cake falls instead of rising. Moreover, enforced change usually does not last, while productive enduring can ingrain permanent change. (See Alma 32:13–16.)
Patient endurance is to be distinguished from merely being “acted upon.” Endurance is more than pacing up and down within the cell of our circumstance; it is not only acceptance of the things allotted to us, it is to “act for ourselves” by magnifying what is allotted to us. (See Alma 29:3, 6.)
If, for instance, we are always taking our temperature to see if we are happy, we will not be. If we are constantly comparing to see if things are fair, we are not only being unrealistic, we are being unfair to ourselves.
Therefore, true enduring represents not merely the passage of time, but the passage of the soul—and not merely from A to B, but sometimes all the way from A to Z. To endure in faith and doeth God’s will. (See D&C 63:20; D&C 101:35) therefore involves much more than putting up with a circumstance.
Rather than shoulder-shrugging, true enduring is soul-trembling. Jesus bled not at a few, but “at every pore.” (D&C 19:18.)
By itself, of course, the passage of time does not bring an automatic advance. Yet, like the prodigal son, we often need the “process of time” in order to come to our spiritual senses. (Luke 15:17.) The touching reunion of Jacob and Esau in the desert, so many years after their sibling rivalry, is a classic example. Generosity can replace animosity. Reflection can bring perception. But reflection and introspection require time. So many spiritual outcomes require saving truths to be mixed with time, forming the elixir of experience, that sovereign remedy for so many things.
… We gain knowledge through particular experiences, but only incrementally, “in that thing.” (Alma 32:34.) Hence the ongoingness of it all, and perhaps we can be forgiven for wondering, “Is there no other way?” Personal, spiritual symmetry emerges only from the shaping of prolonged obedience. Twigs are bent, not snapped, into shape.
Without patient and meek endurance we will learn less, see less, feel less, and hear less."
Thanks for the great comments, friends!! Very insightful and helpful perspectives and ideas.
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