Staff Blog

Romans 5:1-5

“Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Paul writes that through faith we stand in God’s grace and constantly rejoice in the hope (and assurance) of God’s glory that we will ultimately see when we see Him face to face, but also see in our lives now as He changes us from glory to glory. BUT, we also “glory” in tribulations!! They develop perseverance in our lives. Perseverance develops character. Character develops hope. And hope will not disappoint us because God’s perfect love has been lavished upon us and exercised in us through the process of tribulations, by the Holy Spirit. What an eye opener when it comes to difficult places in life! We are to “glory” in tribulations because the Holy Spirit is making us stronger in perseverance, character, hope and love. Nothing in life is microwaved and ready in 2 minutes! Success in life comes through good times and struggles, and we can’t avoid, complain or ignore our struggles. In all hardships, God is developing us more into the image He wants us to bear, even if that image seems to come through difficult times! Our culture and sometimes our misconception of “easy” or “immediate” faith dulls our conscience to the glory of God’s working through our hardships. The question is not the “source” of the hardship, but our “destination” in the end. One thing is for sure, God is working during our struggle to draw us closer to Him! It is mandatory that we understand firstly that we are at peace with God and have been justified by our faith. Therefore, tribulations are not God’s anger or judgment afflicting us, because we have been made just as if we’d never sinned! Where there is no more offense, there can be no more judgment! We stand in His grace through our faith and rejoice that we have been made His, and His alone. When God chastises us, it isn’t out of anger or wrath, but through perfect, mature love that gently corrects our path. God’s chastisement and tribulations are not necessarily the same thing and shouldn’t be confused. We cannot attribute all of our tribulations to God’s hand, but we can know that in their midst, He uses what was meant for harm to bring about greatness in us! Isn’t it like our heavenly Father to harness good from bad? To create life from destruction? I believe it is! Therefore, we should “glory” in our tribulations, knowing that the God who has eternally accepted us, is continually working for our good in every circumstance!