Paul fittingly
describes the war that believers wage against natural feelings of anguish in
their pursuit of endurance and perseverance: "We are afflicted in every
way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not
forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Cor. 4:8-9). We see that
bearing the cross with endurance doesn't mean that a person is absolutely
stupefied or robbed of every feeling of sorrow. The Stoics of old foolishly
idealized such a person — one who, having stripped himself of all humanity,
feels the same whether he encounters adversity or prosperity, sorrow or
success; or rather one who feels nothing — like a stone. And what did the
Stoics achieve by such sublime wisdom? They painted a portrait of endurance
that has never been found, nor can exist, among men. Indeed, while they wished
to represent endurance accurately and precisely, they deprived humankind of the
power of genuine endurance.
John Calvin
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