ROMANS 8:18

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Have you every endured some kind of suffering knowing that in the end it would be worth it? Take weight-lifting for instance. We push ourselves and cause momentary pain in our muscles so that we can get stronger and be able to do what we want to do physically. I remember vividly how Coach Powell pushed us in the weight room as football players. We didn’t appreciate all those off season hours in the gym until we hit the field in the fall. Then our strength we had built through pain paid off.

Paul knew all about suffering. He had endured his fair share of it. In 2 Corinthians 6:4-5 he shares some of his experiences of suffering. “4 but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in difficulties, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in mob attacks, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger,…” Did you notice how he started that? He said, “as servants of God.” You have to remember this through the suffering.

APPLICATION

We have to also remember why we even have suffering. Matthew Henry says it well. “Sin has been, and is, the guilty cause of all the suffering that exists in the creation of God. It has brought on the woes of earth; it has kindled the flames of hell. As to man, not a tear has been shed, not a groan has been uttered, not a pang has been felt, in body or mind, that has not come from sin.” So, as long as we are in this mortal body, we are open to suffering because of sin. This sin may or may not be of our own making. But all suffering is a teacher.

But Paul doesn’t stop with his talk of suffering. No! He says it doesn’t compare with “the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Hallelujah! Picture a scale you would use to weigh out seed or grain. On one side you have the weights you use to measure the amount of seed or grain you put on the opposite side. When the scale is balanced, you know you have the correct amount of weight. Sufferings will never outweigh our coming glory. Paul says they are incomparable.

The image of a mother right after birth of a baby just popped into my head. The intense suffering of childbirth gives way to indescribable joy as she holds that little life. That, beloved, is what Paul is saying in today’s verse. Any and all suffering we may endure will quickly fade away as we receive the glory He has promised. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.

Dear Lord, let my sufferings remind me of the coming glory.

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