Victor Frankl, an Austrian neurologist believed that having purpose gives you strength to persevere through adversity. As a Holocaust survivor he saw this first-hand.
He saw suffering and pain at a level we can’t even imagine. But he also saw something else. Prisoners who had no sense of purpose but merely hoped that things would get better, often died very quickly. It wasn’t because of their physical suffering. It was because they had lost hope. They had lost their purpose.
On the other hand, those who survived the concentration camps faced the same suffering. But they faced it differently. They had more courage and faith. They had more strength and resilience. Why? Because they had a purpose.
- To accomplish a life-long dream
- To be there for their family and friends
- To tell the world how they had overcome this great evil.
Purpose gives strength to persevere through adversity.
Look at Jesus. Jesus was rejected, betrayed and crucified. How did he persevere?
The Bible says,
For the joy set before him he endured the cross… (Heb 12:2, NIV)
In other words, what gave him the strength to persevere?
- The joy of doing his Father’s will
- The joy of finishing the race marked out for him
- The joy of bringing love and salvation to a broken and hurting world.
I wonder how many of you are so tired, the only thing you want is to just get through the day. To get your kids settled with school. To stock enough toilet paper. To manage your to-do list.
What do you do when you don’t have anything left?
Fix our eyes on Jesus… Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Heb 12:2-3, NIV)
When you see how there’s great meaning and purpose in loving others well in the course of an ordinary day – it won’t make all your problems go away. But it will give your life purpose and the strength to persevere.
