2 Corinthians 6:4-6 (NLT):“In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love”

This pandemic is testing the world’s patience. All of us are being challenged to endure.

The Greek word hupommeeis used 32 times in the New Testament and is often translated to “patience.”It does NOT mean “patiently waiting for something to be over.”The idea of endurance in the Bible is how pain and difficulty can be transformed into spiritual maturity and character.

In these verses, the apostle Paul describes all different kinds of trouble: beatings, imprisonments, sleepless nights, hunger, hard work, riots. He goes on to say that all those challenges actually proved all that God was doing inside him. Through God’s indwelling Spirit, he was showing things like understanding, patience, kindness and love.

When believers face life’s difficulties with an upward look, exhibiting an unmovable confidence, they are showing evidence of endurance,which turns those challenges into spiritual grace and maturity. (James 1:2-4).