“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.”
I was taught that every believer should study Paul’s Epistle to the Romans once a year. When I focus on riches, such as the paragraph from which these verses are taken, I see how appropriate that is.
The verses quoted are a challenge, not just personally in our Christian pilgrimage, but also to any misguided belief that the Christian life is a walk in the park. At the same time we’re not called to some sort of grin and bear it journey. Look at the context and note the wonderful eternal riches that surround the challenge.
By the grace of God we have come into a right relationship with the living Lord – we have been justified by faith.
We know deep within ourselves a peace “with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. It is an indescribable, indestructible peace that is beyond our comprehension.
We have been granted to know the grace of God, that unearned, undeserved favour that out of his heart of love he lavished upon us.
We live in the context of a hope which is eternal – there is nothing uncertain about the promises of our God and he has assured us of such hope.
The living and reigning God, creator of all things and the one who sustains all things by his power has poured his love upon me and into my life.
As a token and sign of his love and commitment to me my Lord has poured his Holy Spirit into my life.
Wow! Wow! Wow! What blessing and wonderful riches for the child of God. In this context I think I can handle, by God’s grace, the possible consequences of following the one who we refer to as “man of sorrows”. (RS)
“Man of sorrows! What a name for the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim! Hallelujah! What a Saviour!”