“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” — 2 Timothy 2:3 (KJV)
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I was listening to a commentator talking recently about how athletes deal with adversity. He spoke of how the great ones always find a way to adapt their game to whatever challenges may happen along the way — schedule changes, injuries, weather conditions, teammates/coaches getting sick, travel delays, problems with the opponent. Whatever the situation may be, they find a way to pivot mentally, physically and emotionally, and overcome. And then the commentator said something that’s stuck with me because it’s such a beautiful truth, not only for sports but also for life. He said, “Nothing gets easier in life. You just need to learn how to handle the hard better.”
Sometimes, I think we have this illusion that, as we grow and learn and experience things, life will somehow get simpler, easier, more efficient. That it’s just a matter of figuring things out and then it will all start to get smoother. But, as both life and sports teach us, this isn’t reality. There continue to be difficulties and distractions, and nobody is immune from them. Just because we’ve lived a little and learned some things doesn’t exempt us from hardships of any kind, and the ones who end up getting stronger from it are the ones who “handle the hard better.” The ones who refuse to crumble or give into whatever is going on. They put the principle of 2 Timothy 2:3 into practice and “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
Neuroscience proves that our human brain spends much of its time anticipating and trying to figure out the future based on its previous knowledge of the past, doing what it can to project how things are going to go and, accordingly, determining our actions for right now. But even with the ability to plan and dream and expect certain things, our finite minds are unable to predict everything all the time. There will be trials and unexpected surprises along the way that force us to either adapt or break. We can choose to move with the problem and make the necessary adjustments, or we can let it destroy us, our confidence, our faith, our hope.
Jesus didn’t make everything completely clear to us. He left some stuff to mystery, but one thing He did say quite plainly came in John 16:33: “In this world you will have trouble.” Life is going to be hard. There will be things that happen that break your heart and leave you wounded. There will be temptations and distractions and complicated circumstances that leave you asking questions and trying to solve the problem. The journey of life isn’t going to be easy by any means, so we might as well just drop that myth right now and accept that truth.
Yet, what was the promise Jesus left us in the midst of that statement? “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. … Take heart! I have overcome the world.” Have faith. Be brave. Live with courage. Because your God is still in control, and you can survive this. You can “learn to handle the hard better” and take your place among the “good soldiers” of Christ who know the satisfaction of overcoming “by the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11).
— Katherine Singer
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