A select few Christian virtues seem to get all the press. Love, joy, hope, faith – we often talk about these characteristics that should pervade the Christian life, and we should. But there are other characteristics, too, that are also important, but ones that don’t seem to get nearly as much play time.

By way of example, think about perseverance. We don’t talk about that one nearly as much, and no wonder – if we want to talk about perseverance, then by necessity we must also talk about difficulty. That is, after all, what perseverance is – it’s continuing on in the face of struggle. Pain. Anxiety. Depression. And it’s continuing on, oftentimes, in a none too exciting way. Rather, it’s just putting one foot in front of the other.

Perseverance is plodding forward through difficulty. That’s the picture you get from James 1:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4).

The context of the verse is hardship. In this case, the hardship is persecution. These Christians were facing trials like this, and James wrote telling them that even if they don’t feel it, they can “consider” or “count” the facing of those trials as joy. And why?

It’s because the field of difficulty is where perseverance most readily grows. Or, you could say it the opposite way – no difficulty, no perseverance.

Now this is hard for us because we do not live in a culture that values perseverance. Oh, we might say we do, and we might like movies that show stories of it, and we might share quotes about it, but we have trouble living it. That’s because we live in a culture of escape. We live in a culture that doesn’t like persevering; we live in a culture that likes escaping. People escaping to amusement, fathers escaping responsibility, mothers escaping boredom, employees escaping the daily grind – it’s a culture bent on escape.

Interestingly, if we look back at James 1, the origin of the word translated as “perseverance” means “standing under.” Now that’s a powerful image. Imagine, for a moment, that you are holding a rock over your head. Not a big rock, but not a small one either. At first it’s pretty easy to stay under it, but as the minutes drag by, it becomes heavier and heavier, and all you can think about is how light your life would be if you could only get out from under that burden.

From that pressure.

From that responsibility.

From that difficulty.

It would be so much lighter if you could just escape. But Christians don’t escape – they do the opposite. They stand under, and they persevere.

Now it’s at this point we should be careful, because frankly, there are some situations in which we need to escape, and it’s the good and right thing to do. An abusive relationship, for example, is something we most certainly do not need to stand under. Or a church that has drifted from centering itself on God’s Word. Or a situation in which we continually find ourselves tempted toward sexual immorality. These situations are the right time to flee; they’re the right time to escape. But those situations are comparatively few compared to most of the everyday difficulties we face. And we ought to be careful that we aren’t trying to escape from under something heavy just for the sake of our own comfort.

No, Christians aren’t those who escape. We are those who persevere. So I wonder, today, what situation in your life feels heavy? What are you trudging through at the pace of a turtle? When are you plodding? Yes, of course, it feels heavy, but that’s how strength is made. Don’t look first for the escape hatch, Christian. Look first to the road of perseverance.