Thoughts on Romans - Day 10

                                 Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.


      Sometimes, in the middle of reading an important passage of scripture a principle comes at you that seems like it doesn't belong. Karen was studying the Lord's prayer and was thinking, of all the things Jesus could have instructed the disciples on prayer, why did He mention forgiving others? I was reading in Galatians 2 and Paul just meets the pillars of the faith and they say, "keep preaching to the Gentiles, but remember the poor". Of all the theological truths they could have said to remember, they said remember the poor? And here in Romans, we have been learning all the great truths of doctrine like justification, redemption, propitiation, atonement, faith, grace, etc. and then Paul throws in suffering. Suffering? How does that fit in?

      Maybe Paul is thinking here as he is writing, you know this is awfully esoteric here. This is a lot of doctrine I'm hitting them with, a lot of heavy stuff, I need to address how what they are going through now in their lives relates to what I have been saying. I don't want to lose them before I get practical in Chapter 12. And maybe, knowing through prophecies of what was coming down the pike for him, he needed to remind himself how these sufferings that he had and was going to have coming would be beneficial in the long run. Whatever the reason, in the midst of this heaviness we once again see that man didn't make up this religion. Paul says in Galatians, "I didn't receive this from any man". Of course not. If man made up a religion it would incorporate works. Intuitively, we don't get anywhere on Earth in our career, sports, financially, academically without working at it. Also the Bible would tell us much more about what we will be doing in Heaven and what it will be like because we always want to know what is in it for us? And the trinity? Who would come up with that? And hell forever? And only one way? And here, suffering is a part of the plan... fellas, lets leave that out because we want people to join our religion.

         God has strangely, yet effectively incorporated suffering into Christianity to weed out the phonies and to solidify our faith and our stand and our citizenship in a different place. He also uses it to draw us closer to Him and further from the world and give us a supernatural closeness to Himself that we could not have without suffering. I often think of the book Tortured For His Faith where the author after being beaten and starved near death sat in his cold dark damp prison cell weeping and felt the arms of God come around him and hold him till the next morning. He wouldn't have given that experience up for anything.

            Lord, thank you that you have allowed me to hear and believe this wonderful gospel that wasn't man-made but designed by You from before time began. Help me desire a closeness to You so badly that I even welcome suffering into my life to attain it. Amen