Skip to main content

Glorying In Our Sufferings

             Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3-4)

This is not meant to be in any way political. It’s just something that was said recently that ties in with my thoughts. Recently, a political candidate claimed that she grew up in a middle-class household. Forget about who said it. Think about what she said. I’m reading a biography of Frederick Douglass, whose speeches as an abolitionist centered around his having grown up a slave, then becoming a fugitive (effectively a criminal.)

Think about popular stories: a boy whose aunt and uncle make him sleep under the stairs, a girl who grows up in a society in which randomly chosen children are sent from prison camps to colosseums to fight for their lives, a guy who takes to robbing from rich to give to the poor, boy meets girl and after all their struggles they live happily ever after, a young man takes on the empire, a  young man takes on this, a  young man takes on that, a hobbit takes a ring to a volcano to destroy it, a guy lives the same day over and over…

No matter what the story is, the story is about the suffering that produces perseverance, that produces the good results and allows for hope. Would you be interested in a story about some attractive, rich, talented genius for whom everything always went right? It may sound strange to glory in our struggles, but when you listen to someone talk about their life (even you) you’re likely to hear something that sounds a lot like glorying in struggles. All they/you talk about is how they/you are struggling.

But Scripture doesn’t tell us simply to glory in our struggles. We’re to glory in them because we know they will produce good character traits or strengthen us. As we go through them, then, it’s not that things will turn out OK. It’s that we will.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more