Romans 5
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."
Glory is mentioned twice in this passage.
Hope of the Glory of God - Christ in you by grace
Colossians 1:1
We have gained access by faith into this grace(Romans 5:2). This is the hope of the glory of God.
Hope out of the Glory of our sufferings
Romans 5:3-4
"...suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope."
God was speaking to me about this a couple weeks ago and it helped me understand this passage a little better. He pointed out an area of my life where I have not been living out of hope. I have struggled with the discipline of eating right and exercising consistently for a litany of reasons. But He showed me that my lack of discipline is linked to my lack of hope in this area. There are many lies that I have believed when it comes to getting in shape. Such as:
"I don't have the time to commit to any of it."
"I don't want to think about it."
"It's too hard to work out since I have lingering injuries from playing football and other sports for many years."
"My life is so busy and stressful at times that food is a welcome reprieve from all I have to deal with and I enjoy not having to think about it or limit myself in what I want."
"I have lost a lot of weight in the past and I know how hard it was and my current situation is much worse than that so it will be too hard."
"I'd rather do anything else besides working out."
"Dieting has the word "Die" in it. That can't be good."
"Dieting has the word "Die" in it. That can't be good."
Sound familiar? There's more where that came from. But God showed me even though I never said eating right and exercising was hopeless, that's what I was believing. Then He lead me to these Scriptures. I'm gonna break it down in reverse.
I was without HOPE in this area. I didn't believe that I was ever going to get the end result that I desired. I didn't believe it was possible. That in turn affected my CHARACTER. Character is defined as RIGHT DOING or RIGHT BEHAVIOR. So I wasn't acting rightly... and why was that? Because I hadn't PERSEVERED through the SUFFERING. See, if I truly had hope in the end result... if I believed that I was capable of persevering through the suffering or difficulties associated with eating right and working out, I would gladly submit myself to it. It wasn't just the end result I had a hard time believing. I had a hard time believe that I could make it through the process.
For me, working out and eating right is suffering. It may not be for you but it is for me. So the first couple of days of working out you are in agony because you are working on muscles that you haven't worked out in a long time. There's pain associated with working out. Same thing with eating right. Changing your diet is painful because you have to not only choose better foods for you, but you have to learn to eat things you wouldn't necessarily choose. Because consistently persevering develops right behavior, you'll find out your character has no other option but to improve. And how many of us know that once a behavior is developed, it is so much easier to maintain? If you don't have hope in the end result, you will stop behaving rightly. You will cease to persevere because you will ask yourself, "What's the point?" Why bother suffering if ultimately, you won't get what you hoped for? And if you don't believe you can make it through the process, you will stop engaging in it.
The "Glories" are linked
Look how many "I" statements are above. That's never a good sign. "I... I... I..."
"I" statements reveal an inherent self-centeredness either in our successes or our failures. Pride and Self-pity are two sides of the same coin and "I" statements are the inscriptions on that coin.
Pride is glorifying ourselves through what we've accomplished.
"Look at what I have achieved."
Self-pity is glorifying ourselves through what we've been through.
"Look at what I have suffered."
Both keep the focus on ourselves and off of God. The key to the hope that is out of the glory of our sufferings is that it is linked with hope of the glory of God. It is by the grace of the first hope that the second hope is even possible. Ultimately, we can't persevere through our sufferings unless God walks with us through it. We lose hope when we believe it is all up to us to persevere through the suffering. Through God's grace (the hope of the glory of God), we are able to persevere through the suffering. Because He walks with us, empowering us through the Holy Spirit. And through that, our character is formed. A character that is conforming to Christ's. And as that character is formed, hope just wells up within us because we realize that ultimately what we are hoping for is Christ Himself! And we already possess that which we are hoping for! And not only that, we are becoming like what we are hoping for!
Philippians 3:10
10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
We do not suffer alone. Christ is with us. The Holy Spirit helps us persevere. Through that perseverance, the Father forms our character until it is like Christ's. And because we know that Christ is not only our inheritance but the author and finisher of our faith we rejoice because we have no other choice but to become like Him because He does all the work because we, in fact, are His handiwork.
Ephesians 2
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Rest in that, dear ones. Be free in that. Rejoice in His sufferings. Remove the "I's" from your statements and boast about what He has done. Stop striving. You are God's handiwork.
"I" statements reveal an inherent self-centeredness either in our successes or our failures. Pride and Self-pity are two sides of the same coin and "I" statements are the inscriptions on that coin.
Pride is glorifying ourselves through what we've accomplished.
"Look at what I have achieved."
Self-pity is glorifying ourselves through what we've been through.
"Look at what I have suffered."
Both keep the focus on ourselves and off of God. The key to the hope that is out of the glory of our sufferings is that it is linked with hope of the glory of God. It is by the grace of the first hope that the second hope is even possible. Ultimately, we can't persevere through our sufferings unless God walks with us through it. We lose hope when we believe it is all up to us to persevere through the suffering. Through God's grace (the hope of the glory of God), we are able to persevere through the suffering. Because He walks with us, empowering us through the Holy Spirit. And through that, our character is formed. A character that is conforming to Christ's. And as that character is formed, hope just wells up within us because we realize that ultimately what we are hoping for is Christ Himself! And we already possess that which we are hoping for! And not only that, we are becoming like what we are hoping for!
Philippians 3:10
10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
We do not suffer alone. Christ is with us. The Holy Spirit helps us persevere. Through that perseverance, the Father forms our character until it is like Christ's. And because we know that Christ is not only our inheritance but the author and finisher of our faith we rejoice because we have no other choice but to become like Him because He does all the work because we, in fact, are His handiwork.
Ephesians 2
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Rest in that, dear ones. Be free in that. Rejoice in His sufferings. Remove the "I's" from your statements and boast about what He has done. Stop striving. You are God's handiwork.
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