Walking Daily the Path to Glory - Part Two

"We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope." Romans 5:3

Today we will focus on three words: perseverance, character and hope.

The question is always asked, "Why would a loving God allow us to suffer so?" The answer, as I said last week, requires an eternal perspective. If we believe that this life is "all there is," then it would be easy to believe that there is no point to our suffering.

But let me as you this: Do you believe that God is using your present life and circumstances to change you and make you more like Jesus? Do you believe your suffering is an opportunity to learn and grow and become more like Him? If you really get that, then suffering makes sense and is worth the end result.

Think of other things we "endure" because we are aiming for an end result.

• We go on a diet because we want to look better. The diet isn't pleasant, but we "endure" it because we want the end result.
• We spend time at the gym because we want to be healthier. We'd rather be doing other things, but our physical health, flexibility, stamina, and strength is worth the hard work.
• We want to buy a new car (or refrigerator or game system or whatever) and so we make sacrifices and scrimp and save because our eye is on the prize so to speak.
• We want to get a college degree, so we give up our social life and spend hours studying and writing papers and attending classes because the goal is worth all of that.

Now those things may not qualify, exactly, as "suffering," but my point here is that unpleasant things are often necessary to reach good goals. Our "good goal" is that we become more like Christ.

Okay, so with all of that said, let's talk about the three words:

1) Perseverance - Perseverance is an important part of the journey. If I want to be like Jesus and some day live with Him in eternity, then I must persevere. I have to hang in there.

How does suffering produce perseverance? I'm not exactly sure, but I do think that each time we endure suffering with a right attitude and we see that it changes us in positive ways, it may give us more ability to persevere. It gives us short term results while we're on the journey towards the long term prize.

It's kind of like when you're dieting and you reach your first goal of losing five pounds. It encourages you to keep going (or persevere). Just like that, when I see myself being more like Jesus than I was a month ago or a year ago, it encourages me to go on--to persevere.

2) Character - When we suffer and we persevere through suffering, it produces character. We become more like Christ and we glorify Him more and more with our lives. We will eventually find that our responses to life stressors is changing to a more God-like response, and it becomes a way of life for us.

When we begin to see those character changes in ourselves, as I said before, it encourages us to persevere which then, in turn, produces more character changes. And so it goes.

3) Hope - When we walk our journey, and we endure suffering and observe the changes we see in ourselves, it gives us hope that we'll make it!

"He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

The more we persevere, the more we change. The more we change, the more we have hope. The more we have hope, the more we develop the ability to endure suffering and persevere. We also develop more of an ability to see the purpose in suffering, and what we get from the suffering. It becomes more and more worth it.

Tell me what you think. Post a comment!

Boasting, Hope, and Glory

This is a passage that is chock full of wonderful tidbits that teach us about our marvelous God and the benefits of belonging to Him. Lord willing, I expect that next week we will move out of this passage, but just a few final thoughts.

We talked yesterday about "Boasting in the Hope of the Glory of God." Our passage (again!) was Romans 5:1-2.

"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."

Let's review the three words we emphasized--boast, hope, and glory.

Boast - to verbalize with enthusiasm

Hope - the desire for something good along with the confidence of receiving it (this isn't just wishful thinking)

Glory - something that grabs our attention because of admirable attributes

So what is the application here? What should we do with that powerful little sentence?

It should elicit a response:

• Enthusiastic boasting about God's goodness and glory.
• Continually looking forward to what God has in store for those who believe on Him.
• Focusing on Him -- letting Him grab our attention. The more He "grabs our attention" the more we see Him and are drawn to Him and ultimately changed by Him.

"And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.." (Amplified)

"We confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory." (New Living Translation)

[This is not talking about usurping God's glory like Satan tried to do.]

"We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise." (The Message)

So again, here is the NIV version of Romans 5:1-2 followed by "Pastor John's interpretation" (what it says to me personally).

NIV:

"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."

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PJ's version:

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"Because God now views us as righteous, we have peace with God. This isn't because of anything we have done, but it is through the blood of Jesus and His work on the cross. His death, paying for our sins, bought us access to God's abundant grace. All we have to do is believe in Him. This is the work of Christ, and we cannot boast about ourselves, but we can and should boast in what He has done for us! Not only is the result of His grace evident in our lives now, but we have confident hope, knowing that one day we will be presented by Jesus to the Father and be fully acceptable because of Jesus. And on that day, we will share the likeness of Jesus!"

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So what are your thoughts? We've spent three weeks on this passage. Tell me what you come away with!