Resilience

The dictionary defines "resilience" as "the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness." And many biblical characters come to mind when thinking about the capacity for human resiliency. Humans possess different levels of resiliency depending on the individual and the Bible is a great place to read about amazing capacity for resiliency.

One of the first to come to my mind is the apostle Paul. Paul suffered on a regular basis for his faith and preaching. The Bible tells us Paul suffered imprisonment, beatings, stoning, shipwrecks as well as overall danger and hardships at every turn. And when Paul wrote to the saints at Rome in Romans 5:1-5 he said, "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance (vs.2)." Having suffered all Paul did, he still counted the tribulations as glory.

Of course, none showed more resilience in the face of hardship as Christ. I'm sure we all know the various sufferings of Christ during his mortal time on Earth. But even in the face of death and suffering on the cross, Christ was resilient for God the Father. Christ knew his death was an essential part of the Father's plan which he states in Luke 22:42, "...Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."

There are numerous other examples of resiliency in many Biblical characters you could come up with on your own. And as humans, it's easy to want to quit when we meet opposition. But the Biblical references show us the importance of spiritual resilience in the face of hardship. If Christ was willing to meet his own death with resiliency for God, how much easier will it be for us to be true to God in the face of mere "unpopular" opinion of the world?    

• Jordan Hopkins