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Suffering.
It’s all around us, isn’t it?
Just this past week, my brother and I were talking about a little boy who was enduring a great deal of suffering. A dear friend of mine shared a recent heartbreaking diagnosis. I attended a funeral for my best friend’s father. For the past 2 months, we’ve been dealing with my mother-in-law’s hip injury. I pick up my phone and post after post gives us insight into the suffering surrounding us.
Why?
Why is there so much in this world? Why do we have to endure this?
Listen, I don’t have all the answers and won’t claim to be a profound theologian. But I’d love to share with you my reading this morning that deals with suffering and on the flip-side, glory.
Romans 8:17b-25
“But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. 18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.”
When God created the world, it was perfect. But when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, the curse of sin invaded and began its destruction. As the passage describes, all people, whether believers or not, feel pain and groan from sin’s curse. Sin’s ultimate goal is complete destruction.
But God…
Take a moment and pause on that for a second. God – the Lord over all, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Supreme Authority, and the One who loves us – stepped in.
He offers salvation to all people from sin’s curse. He sent His only Son to come to earth and pay the penalty that our sins deserved. Jesus Christ came to die so that we could be saved. Sin requires a sinless sacrifice, and only Jesus can offer that to the Lord on our behalf. Jesus’ death wasn’t the end, though.
He was buried, and three days later, He rose from the dead! His resurrection proved that He had overcome sin’s curse. No longer would death or Hell have victory.
He did that so that you and I could also have victory. For those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God and trust Him as their Lord and Savior, surrendering their life to Him, He offers eternity In Heaven. As Paul shared with the Romans, believers share Christ’s sufferings on this earth, but we also share in the glory that awaits us. Like Jesus, we will receive a glorified body that is free from the curse of sin!
Hallelujah!!!
The sufferings we endure here can’t compare to the joy coming! How do we know?
First, because God’s Word is true and can be trusted. Second, as Paul said, we are given the Holy Spirit at salvation, just a foretaste of the future glory.
Why doesn’t God just step in and completely wipe it all away and stop the suffering? My humble and lowly mind can only imagine that God knows and sees more than I do. His Word says that He is not willing for anyone to perish but would trust in Him and be saved. Maybe He’s giving the lost more time to make that choice. He is patient. He is loving.
My friends, I cannot change your suffering in this life. I can’t promise you that all things will be easy, smooth, or painless. But I can offer you something… no, I can offer you someone who can be with you through the suffering and promises you an eternal life free from pain and heartache and replaces it with complete joy and glory!
Jesus.
Do you know Him?
He is the Prince of Peace. He is the Lord. And He desires for you to know Him more. Can I show you? Let me introduce you to Him and what it looks like to be loved and live in surrender.
Go to follow.Lifeword.org to learn more.
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