Rejoicing in suffering
On Thursday, I was reading & reflecting on Romans 5:3-5 at the Perk. I am slowly making my journey through Romans, but there is a lot to grasp & live out. I have included the verses below.
It is interesting that the word endurance is used. I know I want the Christian faith to be a sprint and something I can finish quickly. The picture in my mind is a marathon. I will never run a marathon because I hate running and especially hate long distances. But this endurance will help us in the long run. Our faith journey is not a sprint, but more like a marathon. It matters how we end not just short sprints when it comes to our spiritual journey.
Endurance leads to character which leads to hope. This marathon spiritual journey will develop character. Many times we try to do this on our own, but we need to remember it is not in our own strength as we will see later. God is interested in our character more than our success, intelligence, popularity, etc. This character leads to hope. Have you ever asked why? As I studied, I realized this hope is based on what Christ has done for us not what we can do. Hope is not impacted by our circumstances.
The passage continues by comparing hope and shame. Shame is based on works. We feel bad because we said the wrong thing, thought a wrong way, or did something wrong. Why do we feel shame? Because we wonder how anyone could love us. But notice how shame is dealt with? The answer: God's love.
Do you believe God loves you? Romans 5 reminds us that God loves us. Not just a little, but a lot! Paul uses the word "poured" rather than drip or sprinkle. God's love is poured on us. Imagine a flood of love pouring over you by God.
This is hard for us to believe or trust. So, Paul explains how this works. It is not just based on how I feel or think, but it instead guaranteed through the gift of the Holy Spirit. I have blogged several times about the Holy Spirit's power in our lives. He empowers us, not us trying harder. The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us to help us live the Christian life known as a marathon. We cannot face suffering alone, but need others in the faith to encourage us, but more importantly we need God through the Holy Spirit to carry us through the difficult times.
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.I don't know about you, but I do not naturally rejoice when I suffer. Usually, I complain and see how I can quickly get through it. But these verses remind me that there is a benefit to suffering. I think we can agree that is hard to believe while in the middle of suffering. However, I know God's Word is true and so I can trust that my suffering produces endurance. We also need to remember to not see suffering as a punishment by God. Suffering is part of what it means to be human, not an angry God punishing us for our sins.
It is interesting that the word endurance is used. I know I want the Christian faith to be a sprint and something I can finish quickly. The picture in my mind is a marathon. I will never run a marathon because I hate running and especially hate long distances. But this endurance will help us in the long run. Our faith journey is not a sprint, but more like a marathon. It matters how we end not just short sprints when it comes to our spiritual journey.
Endurance leads to character which leads to hope. This marathon spiritual journey will develop character. Many times we try to do this on our own, but we need to remember it is not in our own strength as we will see later. God is interested in our character more than our success, intelligence, popularity, etc. This character leads to hope. Have you ever asked why? As I studied, I realized this hope is based on what Christ has done for us not what we can do. Hope is not impacted by our circumstances.
The passage continues by comparing hope and shame. Shame is based on works. We feel bad because we said the wrong thing, thought a wrong way, or did something wrong. Why do we feel shame? Because we wonder how anyone could love us. But notice how shame is dealt with? The answer: God's love.
Do you believe God loves you? Romans 5 reminds us that God loves us. Not just a little, but a lot! Paul uses the word "poured" rather than drip or sprinkle. God's love is poured on us. Imagine a flood of love pouring over you by God.
This is hard for us to believe or trust. So, Paul explains how this works. It is not just based on how I feel or think, but it instead guaranteed through the gift of the Holy Spirit. I have blogged several times about the Holy Spirit's power in our lives. He empowers us, not us trying harder. The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us to help us live the Christian life known as a marathon. We cannot face suffering alone, but need others in the faith to encourage us, but more importantly we need God through the Holy Spirit to carry us through the difficult times.
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