In his pastoral epistle to Timothy, Paul used three metaphors to describe the Christian life. The first is a soldier; the second, an athlete; and the third, a farmer. There is a common denominator to all three. None can be practised without endurance. Our lead scripture singled out soldering. What makes for a good soldier is not simply the ability to hold the rifle and shoot straight at a target. Endurance is a must-have for any soldier worth his salt. Elsewhere, Paul had written on the sacrifices that an athlete must imbibe before he could become a champion. The farmer on his part must tend the crop and patiently wait for the rains before any hope of a harvest.

A disciplined and enduring soldier did not attain that by wishing or even praying; it is a product of training. You can train yourself to become more enduring…Other exercises like fasting and delaying gratifications will eventually toughen you and make you a good soldier of Christ.

Just as a soldier cannot make good his career without endurance, even so will a Christian fail woefully without this timeless virtue. What remains to be said is that endurance is not a gift of the Spirit. As far as spiritual gifts are concerned, the Bible gives us the liberty to covet what we deem best and pray for their manifestation in our lives. Whenever you see a virtue outside the listing of spiritual gifts, you must accept that it is cultivated. A disciplined and enduring soldier did not attain that by wishing or even praying; it is a product of training. You can train yourself to become more enduring. Anyone who picks up a voluminous book and chooses to read to the end is building up their endurance level. When you turn to difficult passages in the Bible like the book of Numbers, Revelations, or portions with genealogy, you are building up your endurance level. Other exercises like fasting and delaying gratifications will eventually toughen you and make you a good soldier of Christ.