The Fruit of Toughness

Yes, I know that Toughness isn’t mentioned as a Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, but it’s a virtue I think we need more of. And maybe it’s not that far away from an actual mentioned Fruit anyway.

Toughness has always been important to me. I don’t know if that’s a result of being the youngest in my family, never being very physically large, or the way my parents raised me, but it was very important to me that I could out-tough people. I know I learned it at least partially due to my dad’s parenting style. While always loving, my dad wasn’t too concerned when my brother or I got hurt. I remember tearing my rotator cuff in 8th grade and trying to convince him that I should see a doctor. “Nah, you just pulled a muscle,” he said. Two weeks of not being able to lift my arm finally changed his mind and we found out the damage was real. Or there is the time that I cut my finger to the bone. Trying to out-tough my injury, I held pressure on it for 45 minutes with no sign of the bleeding stopping before I went to my parents. Dad said to give it another 20 minutes before we went for stitches. I’m not criticizing my dad for this. In fact, I find myself parenting the same way. And I know my small sized boys are going to need to learn toughness because size will never be their attribute.

Even as an adult, I find toughness important. At our Slick & Twisted Retreat in January, I volunteered to be first to jump into the icy lake water to make sure it was safe. Did I really want to do that? Nope. But I was not going to be the wimp that would let someone else take that chance. And I got the bloody lip, nose, and knees for it as I hit the ice on the other side of our hole on the way down. But at least everyone learned from my jump and no one else got hurt.

So toughness may not be a high Spiritual trait but I do think it’s connected to one. To me, Faithfulness is the originator of toughness. You can afford to be tough if you have faith in your ability to handle a situation. Or you can be tough because of your faith in the One who can handle any situation.

Faithfulness should lead to a life of wreckless abandon; fearlessness due to a relationship with the Creator of everything. There are great examples of faithfulness leading to toughness all throughout the Bible. There’s Daniel, who risks a den of lions to be faithful in prayer. There are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who dare the king to throw them in a furnace for refusing to bow to his statue.

And then there’s Paul. The toughest of the tough came out of true faithfulness in the Jesus he met on the road to Damascus.

“I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” - 2 Cor. 11:23-28

While I worry about being tough about useless stuff, Paul was tough because of his faith in God. We could all use a little more toughness and a lot more faith in this crazy world. Then we get to follow where the Spirit leads no matter the consequences. That’s tough.