The Grit of the Saint

By Joel Bates

It is entirely possible to fall asleep while standing up, but do you know one can fall asleep while hiking?  I know because it happened to me one time while leading a group of intern recruits on a training expedition.  In order to toughen them up, we had devised an itinerary that would only be accomplished with navigational perfection or constant trudging.  The trainees were not particularly good at orienteering, so we hiked and hiked and hiked. 
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About 2:45 AM, I was plodding along in line with my headlamp beam aimed on the feet in front of me.  I thought I had my bleary eyes focused on the hiker’s boots when suddenly I awoke with a start and realized I could not remember the last five minutes of trail, time, or consciousness!  Yes, I had slept while hiking.

It’s a fine question: “Can a person sleep while hiking?” But there is a better question: “Why would one choose to sleep while hiking?”  During a short snack break along the trail, I wandered to the front of the line where our group of interns huddled around the topo map, scouring the contours for any evidence that we were in the right place.  As I knelt beside them, the stress from the heavy burden of leadership was palpable.  My simple question “How are you doing?” brought instant tears to some group members.  One young lady, taking a deep breath and smearing a tear across her dusty cheek, looked at me with determination and said, “We think we know where we are.  It’s our job to get us to the destination.”  Then smiling slightly she added, “And this is our training.”  ​

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They struggled with the choice to keep going late into the night even though they were tired or give up and set up camp.  The choice had been thrust upon them as part of a designed experience, complete with a higher purpose than comfort and rest, and the decision was made simpler by trusting that there was meaning to the assignment.  They understood the purpose but hadn’t quite discovered the significance.  All of us persevered because we believed the revelation would come with finding the destination. 

Meaning and destination are not only compelling forces that motivate a driven team of DM trainees, these attributes also seem essential for our journey as Christians.  I wonder sometimes if we realize that the Christian life, while good and abundant, is a long, slow, often difficult walk.  It should come as no surprise when we read passages like 2 Timothy 2:3-6 where Paul puts it bluntly,
“Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops” (ESV).
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Soldiers, athletes and farmers…what do they all have in common?  They have to endure.  The soldier endures a battle.  The athlete pushes to finish a distance race.  The farmer his works steadily all year—preparing the land, sowing the seed, weeding and watering, and waiting for the crop to yield. ​

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​In her acclaimed bestseller, Grit, Angela Duckworth defends that true success is not achieved by those with simply the most giftedness, greatest intelligence, and deepest pockets, but success comes to those who are driven by a passion and fueled by perseverance.  Paul cuts to the heart of this knowing the true passion of the Jesus-follower is Christ Himself, and the success of the gospel is accomplished through perseverance.  Nazi concentration camp survivor, Victor Frankl, summed up the difference between those who endured the camps versus those who perished in his 1946 book, Man’s Search for Meaning, stating that the variance was the identification of purpose to one’s life through three distinct ways—the completion of tasks, caring for another person, or facing suffering with dignity.

Christians are in a battle.  We face a contest that requires disciplined preparation and like farmers, we plant the seeds of the gospel and of charitable deeds hoping to see the fruit.  In Paul’s challenge to Timothy, he calls us to be like soldiers, athletes, and farmers as we accomplish the three great purposes very similar to Frankl’s discovery of survival.  As farmers, we work hard at the task of planting, cultivating, and harvesting.  As soldiers, we defend citizens and protect the weak, and in so doing, we are caring for others.  Like an Olympic athlete, we endure the suffering of competing in the games in front of a crowd to win the garland, and no matter our placing, we can cross the line with dignity. 

Thinking back to that long, wearisome, training expedition, I remember many of the other hardships we faced together as a group—a swift river crossing, a number of time-consuming wrong turns, and the little things like washing the dinner pots in a cold creek and helping a mate lift a pack to his shoulders.  Moreover, I remember that the people being trained each exhibited grit—a firmness of character and an indomitable spirit.  I saw them go on that summer to lead and facilitate some very extraordinary adventures for the participants they led. 

Frankl spoke of surviving, but Paul’s words to us who call Christ “Lord” mean thriving.  It is difficult work in the Christian life to stand our ground, to train with discipline, and to work the fields, but in the end, we will see the defeat of a foe, receive the victor’s crown, and enjoy a great harvest feast.  Because of our grit, the suffering will be worth it one day when we reach the destination and trade in the suffering of a servant for the crown of a saint.

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The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 
if we endure, we will also reign with him… 2 Timothy 2:11-12a