When Suffering Shapes Hope
The beauty and the power of the gospel is not that God makes bad people good. Rather, it is that God makes dead people live. And live forever. Our faith that Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead moves us from a ‘lost’ column to a ‘found’ column. From a ‘dead’ column to a ‘live’ column. From a ‘hopeless’ column to a ‘hopeful’ column. And when this transaction happens, Paul says that we have peace with God. The essence of peace is a right relationship. Jesus makes it possible for us to have a right relationship with God and with each other. You can attempt to negotiate peace, but negotiated peace will be temporary. Real peace is both for now and for later because its nature is in fact eternal.
So, in the plus column, faith gives us life and peace. But Paul adds that our faith also gives us grace to stand upon. Here is an American problem, I think. We want to create our own place and way to stand. We believe we can achieve any and everything by our work ethic. And our self-confidence and work ethic has achieved much for us. But understanding faith properly means we cannot work our way into a relationship with God. We cannot earn a place to stand. We get a firm foundation for life by grace. God's mercy and grace become the foundation of our life, not our work and achievements.
Good theology can bring you peace and confidence in both the present and the future. But good theology never lies about what is ahead. Paul says that we are justified by faith, have peace with God through the work of Jesus, and that through faith we also have a foundation of grace to stand upon that results in hope of the glory of God. I'm good with all that, aren't you?
But I don't like the next part. Because the next part that is promised, and even guaranteed, is suffering. I didn't sign up for suffering. Been there, done that, and don't particularly want any more, and if you are honest, you probably feel the same way. We prefer a Jesus who suffered for us but not one who invites us to suffer with him and not just for the sake of others but apparently for our own sake. Paul frames it this way: "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.”
I would like an order of endurance, and I would like a half a pound of character on the side. And throw in a bottle of hope. "Anything else?” asks the virtue fairy.
Isn't that how we really want our maturity course to look like? But the path that has been prepared for us affirms that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. That's the road we take, and the destination brings the results.
Several years ago, I heard Brene Brown give a lecture on shame. She is probably the current authority on shame research. Shame is the feeling that there is something wrong with you. We feel guilt when we do wrong things, but shame says that we are flawed, inadequate, and broken. As I reflect on Brown’s research, I also consider what Paul wrote concerning shame:
"And hope does not put us to shame."
Here is the good news: "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us!" But there is more. It was given while we were weak, not because we were strong and perfect and had it all figured out!
So we don't have to fear shame anymore. God saw our shame and our brokenness ahead of time and loved us anyway. Now as we submit to the Lord and to his path for us that includes suffering, we know that character will follow and ultimately, we receive glory and not shame.
I still don't want an order of suffering today, but when it comes, I know I can endure it and that good things do follow suffering. And through it all, I do not need to feel one bit of shame.
Father, thank you for the gift of life that comes through Christ alone. Thank you for the peace that comes to us because of Jesus. Thank you for the grace which we can stand on and for the hope that comes through Christ. Today we pray that you would use us to bring glory to you and to share your life of grace and hope with those around us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Romans 5:1-8, 10-11 ESV
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