“And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”Romans 8:17-18 NLT
Why does God allow you and me to suffer if we are “co-heirs” with Christ? Doesn’t that mean we are supposed to get all the good stuff? Well, yes. But for Jesus, the good stuff came on the other side of a lot of bad stuff. The good stuff came on the other side of suffering.My favorite definition of suffering comes from a message I heard on a cassette tape in the mid-1990s. Author Elisabeth Elliott defined suffering very simply: Having what you don’t want or wanting what you don’t have. Her point was that suffering affects every one of us in one way or another and in varying degrees. None of us are immune to suffering.
Romans 8:17-18 makes it clear that suffering and glory are connected.
“And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.” Romans 8:17-18 NLT
The good stuff is only on the other side of the bad stuff. As co-heirs with Christ we inherit His suffering on the way to glory. But the best stuff is this: What we suffer is not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed. It’s going to be worth it all. This is our hope. And that is the hope I want to inform my day-to-day perspective.
What about you, my friend? What would it look like for you to live with the hope that everything you have gone through and are going through is going to be worth it all? I think it looks like Puddleglum.
Live like a Narnian. I love books and a good deal on good books is hard to pass up. Several years ago, I bought Kindle versions of all seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia series for $1.99 each. It has been money well spent! Each fantasy story by C.S. Lewis tackles different aspects of faith. The most famous story is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I most recently finished The Silver Chair. To me, it’s a story about how what we believe affects our actions and identity.
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