The Holy Trinity
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings....
-- Romans 5:3a
What a strange phrase. It appears so masochistic. If it were taken out of context, it could easily lead to a distorted practice of seeking out suffering in an unhealthy manner. The context of this phrase is the hope made possible by the grace in which we have been saved. While the Christian does not seek out suffering, Christians do not see the first objective of life as the avoidance of suffering either. There is full recognition that being saved does not offer you some magical protection from the woes of life. Clearly the experience of Jesus should suggest to believers that faith may very well lead to suffering rather than avoid it. Why, then, would anyone want to be a Christian? Surely there must be some alternate wisdom, some power of positive thinking, or some life philosophy that holds better promise of success. Rather than seeing suffering as one of the great negatives of life, Paul approached suffering as a possibility for something positive.
"... suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts...." For Paul, because he knew that God was not defeated by death or pain, he could approach the difficult moments in life not from fear but from hope. When his own people rejected him, he recognized it as an opportunity to reach out to the Gentiles. When he was beaten and physically abused, he saw it as a sharing in the sufferings of Christ. When he was thrown into prison, he saw it as an opportunity to testify to the praetorian guards. Because of God's love that filled his heart, his suffering was not a threat to who he was but an opportunity to witness to the same redemptive activity of God that Jesus demonstrated on the cross.
For churches that often experience set backs in their attempts to offer ministry, Paul's understanding of the gospel provides a means by which the church might rediscover a hope that does not disappoint and testify to a redemptive gospel that offers hope to others.
-- Romans 5:3a
What a strange phrase. It appears so masochistic. If it were taken out of context, it could easily lead to a distorted practice of seeking out suffering in an unhealthy manner. The context of this phrase is the hope made possible by the grace in which we have been saved. While the Christian does not seek out suffering, Christians do not see the first objective of life as the avoidance of suffering either. There is full recognition that being saved does not offer you some magical protection from the woes of life. Clearly the experience of Jesus should suggest to believers that faith may very well lead to suffering rather than avoid it. Why, then, would anyone want to be a Christian? Surely there must be some alternate wisdom, some power of positive thinking, or some life philosophy that holds better promise of success. Rather than seeing suffering as one of the great negatives of life, Paul approached suffering as a possibility for something positive.
"... suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts...." For Paul, because he knew that God was not defeated by death or pain, he could approach the difficult moments in life not from fear but from hope. When his own people rejected him, he recognized it as an opportunity to reach out to the Gentiles. When he was beaten and physically abused, he saw it as a sharing in the sufferings of Christ. When he was thrown into prison, he saw it as an opportunity to testify to the praetorian guards. Because of God's love that filled his heart, his suffering was not a threat to who he was but an opportunity to witness to the same redemptive activity of God that Jesus demonstrated on the cross.
For churches that often experience set backs in their attempts to offer ministry, Paul's understanding of the gospel provides a means by which the church might rediscover a hope that does not disappoint and testify to a redemptive gospel that offers hope to others.
