Glory versus Suffering

Romans 8:18, Romans 5:5

I would not be telling you anything new to say that the book of Romans is so awesome. If you have not read it in it's entirety ever or lately, please do so. It is so good!

Today, I want us to look closely at suffering and hope. Never before in the history of the Earth have there been so many self-help books. Books on "positive thinking" are bound to hit the New York Times Best Seller list every time. These books have even crossed into the Christian realm. There is nothing wrong with thinking positive, but we must not believe things like "it's all small stuff" or that "life is easy, it's just how you look at it". The fact is, it is not all small stuff and life is hard - period! There is suffering involved in life for all people, but this is not all there is.

Romans 5:5 tells us that "hope does not disappoint us". This "hope" that Paul is speaking of is not unfounded optimism. "Hope" in this verse is the Greek word "elpis" which means "joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation"(Studylight.org). This is eternal hope. It is the hope we receive when we trust Christ as our Savior and "it does not disappoint". I say all of this about hope because we have to have hope to get through our sufferings. And sufferings are part of this life and definitely part of the Christian life.

Jesus talked about suffering, Paul talked about suffering - we are going to go through things that are not fun in this life. I have heard people say that the Christian life is not hard. I guess there is nothing wrong with that statement except that it is just wrong! However, we do not have to suffer as the world suffers - as those without hope. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:13).

This life is going to be our only suffering. This is it. For those in Christ, eternity holds eternal peace and joy with no suffering involved. Paul did not even think that the suffering of this life was worth comparing with the glory that will be in the next. In light of that, can we do this suffering thing with some faithfulness? I'm not saying its not hard and even as I write this I am reminded of how I act when things in my life are difficult. But, let's pray for each other. Let's pray that whatever we or our brothers or sisters are going through (or will go through), that we will go through it with faithfulness. Lets ask that God not only walk with us through the fire, but that He will receive glory from how we walked through it.