How do we rejoice in suffering? It makes sense to rejoice
that God loves me. But to rejoice in suffering? It’s required of us:
• Through him we have also obtained access by faith into
this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not
only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces
endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 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. (Romans 5:2-5)
We rejoice because suffering is a gift that bears
fruit—endurance, character, and hope. It takes us through the eternity’s veil
where we partake of the glory of God.
Don’t fret that you are not able to convert your suffering
into these fruit. You cannot! That’s why He tells us that His love has been
poured forth into our heart. It is He who must produce the growth, but
meanwhile we should rejoice and entrust ourselves to our Savior.
This understanding enabled Paul to boast in his weaknesses.
We need them because this is the ideal soil for our Lord to produce His fruit:
• But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my
power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly
of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians
12:9)
Therefore, welcome your afflictions as friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment