Daily Thoughts from Romans: Suffering (8:18-25)

Daily Thoughts from Romans: Suffering

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.  (Romans 8:18-25)

Paul has told us that even as sons of God we must suffer as Jesus did before we are glorified with Jesus in the kingdom.  How are we to think about suffering?

Suffering is inevitable for those united to Christ.  Romans 8:17 says we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”  Our master suffered and we will experience the same if we follow him.

Suffering now will be more than made up for in the kingdom.  Sufferings now can’t be compared to glory then.

Suffering is an inevitable result of God’s making the world a frustrating place to live.  God made childbirth painful and weeds plentiful, along with other ways the once perfect earth no longer works the way it was meant to so that humans would not be satisfied with life.  This is to show us that our greatest need is God Himself.  Suffering helps us see this more clearly.

Suffering makes us long for our future redemption.  Life on earth for the believer is like getting ready to be born.  The painful contractions propel us toward birth into the redemption God purchased for us in Christ.  The pain makes us hope for the future and that hope enables us to be patient.  We know we were made for perfection and the presence of the Spirit in us confirms that.  The glorious freedom awaiting us, when our spirits will be made perfect and our bodies resurrected, makes us all the more eager to experience Eden’s return.

Someone has said, “Few are skilled at holding themselves in a state of listening to heaven’s music.  Ordinary things – like kitchen pots clattering, telephones ringing, and TV commercials about frozen food and dishwashing detergent – drown out the song.  It is too delicate to compete against mundane things.  It’s a song we never quite forget and recognize immediately whenever we catch its echo.  We recognize it because it is so full of heartbreaking beauty.”  It is heartbreaking because we intrinsically know we were made for it but that it is not here.  It is less heartbreaking for the believer because we know it is coming.

I had a sense, sometimes enormously vivid, that I was a stranger in a strange land; a visitor, not a native…a displaced person….The feeling, I was surprised to find, gave me a great sense of satisfaction, almost of ecstasy….The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realize, is to feel ourselves to be at home here on earth.  As long as we are aliens, we cannot forget our true homeland.  (Malcolm Muggeridge, a British journalist who spent most of his years battling Christianity, finally succumbing to Christ in his seventies, in Jesus Rediscovered)