1 Ne. 8:30; 13:37; 2 Ne. 31:15-16, 19-20; 33:4, 9; Omni 1:26; Mosiah 4:6-7; 18:9; 23:22; Alma 13:29; 36:3; 37:37; 38:5; 3 Ne. 15:9; 21:22; 27:16; Ether 4:19; Moro. 3:3; 6:3; D&C 5:35; 9:14; 14:7; 17:8; 18:22; 20:29; 24:8; 75:16; Matt. 24:13; Mark 13:13; James 5:11
“So, we are talking about durable discipleship! Not the kind that stays in place only for a season and then disappears. In fact, it could be truly said of each one of us here tonight that how much we will have to give later on, in some respects, will depend on how much we can take now. Learning to ‘endure well’ is, among many other things, being able to lose face without losing heart. It is also being able to pass through seeming or real injustice, as did Job, without, as the scriptures say, ‘[charging] God foolishly’ (Job 1:22). A friend of mine who passed through a most severe trial, when I discussed it with him, said simply, ‘If it’s fair, it isn’t a trial.’ He passed through it most gracefully. I know a widow of a General Authority who waited patiently for over forty years to rejoin her husband. I doubt she ever murmured; she merely went on quietly doing as Nephi urged: ‘Following the example of the Son of the Living God.” (Neal A. Maxwell, BYU Fireside, Dec. 2, 1984)
“I testify that it is not sufficient to be baptized and then live an acceptable life avoiding major transgressions. The Lord has decreed that … additional ordinances and covenants … must be received for exaltation and eternal life. Being worthy of temple ordinances means that you will choose to do what many in the world are not willing to do. You will keep the Sabbath day holy, exercise faith through the payment of tithing and fast offerings, consistently participate in Church worship, give service, and show love and appreciation for your family by helping each member of it. After you have received all of the temple ordinances, you will continue to grow by keeping the covenants made and faithfully ‘endur[ing] to the end’ (Omni 1:26).” (Richard G. Scott, Ensign, May 1997, p. 54)
“Early in our married life Sister Nelson and I … decided to enjoy a free afternoon with our two-year-old daughter. We went to one of Minnesota’s many beautiful lakes and rented a small boat. After rowing far from shore, we stopped to relax and enjoy the tranquil scene. Suddenly, our little toddler lifted one leg out of the boat and started to go overboard, exclaiming, ‘Time to get out, Daddy!’
Quickly we caught her and explained: ‘No, dear, it’s not time to get out; we must stay in the boat until it brings us safely back to land.’ Only with considerable persuasion did we succeed in convincing her that leaving the boat early would have led to disaster.
Children are prone to do such dangerous things simply because they have not acquired the wisdom their parents have. Similarly, we as children of our Heavenly Father may foolishly want to get ‘out of the boat’ before we arrive at destinations He would like us to reach… .
Applied to my analogy, we are first to get ‘in the boat’ with Him. Then we are to stay with Him. And if we don’t get ‘out of the boat’ before we should, we shall reach His kingdom, where we will be lifted up to eternal life.
Whenever an undertaking is begun, both the energy and the will to endure are essential. The winner of a five-kilometer race is declared at the end of five kilometers, not at one or two. If you board a bus to Boston, you don’t get off at Burlington. If you want to gain an education, you don’t drop out along the way—just as you don’t pay to dine at an elegant restaurant only to walk away after sampling the salad.
Whatever your work may be, endure at the beginning, endure through opposing forces along the way, and endure to the end. Any job must be completed before you can enjoy the result for which you are working. So wrote the poet:
Stick to your task till it sticks to you;
Beginners are many, but enders are few.
Honor, power, place, and praise
Will always come to the one who stays.
Stick to your task till it sticks to you;
Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it too;
For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile
Will come life’s victories, after awhile.”
(Russell M. Nelson, Ensign, May 1997, pp. 70-71)
“The doctrine of endurance to the end is taught twenty-two times in the Book of Mormon … The requirement of endurance to the end appears consistently in context with the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. One could easily make the case that the Book of Mormon teaches that there are five first principles and ordinances of the gospel, the fifth being enduring to the end… . Many who enter through the gates of baptism and begin their walk on the path to eternal life fail to continue. Sin, apathy, boredom, burnout, discouragement, and pride all take their toll. For this reason, the concept of enduring is critical to all of us.” (Dennis L. Largey, Doctrines of the Book of Mormon, 1991 Sperry Symposium, pp. 59-60)
“Endure to the end. What does that mean? I believe it means basically three things. One: We must continue to repent for the rest of our lives because we will still make mistakes, and we must go home clean or we can’t dwell with the Father and the Son (see D&C 84:74). Two: We must continue to forgive others. If we do not forgive others, we cannot obtain forgiveness ourselves (see D&C 64:9-10). And three: Yes we must be nice. If we’re not nice, I don’t think we’re going to make it. In other words, we must have charity, which is really love plus sacrifice.” (Hartmon Rector Jr., Ensign, Nov. 1994, p. 26)
“In 1968 a marathon runner by the name of John Stephen Akhwari represented Tanzania in an international competition. ‘A little over an hour after [the winner] had crossed the finish line, John Stephen Akhwari … approached the stadium, the last man to complete the journey. [Though he was suffering from fatigue, leg cramps, dehydration, and disorientation,] a voice called from within to go on, and so he went on. Afterwards, it was written, ‘Today we have seen a young African runner who symbolizes the finest in human spirit, a performance that gives meaning to the word courage. For some, the only reward is a personal one. [There are no medals, only] the knowledge that they finished what they set out to do’ (The Last African Runner, Olympiad Series, Bud Greenspan, Cappy Productions, 1976, videocassette). When asked why he would complete a race he could never win, Akhwari replied, ‘My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; my country sent me to finish the race.’ He knew who he was—an athlete representing the country of Tanzania. He knew his purpose—to finish the race. He knew that he had to endure to the finish, so that he could honorably return home to Tanzania. Our mission in life is much the same. We were not sent by Father in Heaven just to be born. We were sent to endure and return to Him with honor… . We learn to endure to the end by learning to finish our current responsibilities, and we simply continue doing it all of our lives. We cannot expect to learn endurance in our later years if we have developed the habit of quitting when things get difficult now.” (Robert D. Hales, Ensign, May 1998, pp. 76-77)