Romans 5:1–5 (ESV)
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Okay kids it’s breakfast time!! I’ve got two boxes of cereal here so It’s your choice. You can have Lucky Charms or Shredded Wheat. I know it’s a hard decision. The first box is colorful with a cartoon leprechaun and it’s loaded with marshmallows of various shapes and colors, and the other box is kind of plain with no character on it, just a big picture of a giant biscuit of shredded wheat. Oh! Here is something interesting though: there is a little note it says “enlarged to show texture.” Look at all that texture kids!
Okay so which cereal will the kids choose? Obviously 99% of the time they would choose the Lucky Charms. The reasons are obvious.
Sometimes it feels like that’s the sort of choice we get in Scripture too. On the one hand we are told to rejoice in the hope and glory of God, that’s the “Lucky Charms…” but then all of sudden Paul tries to slip in a box of Shredded Wheat when he says, “And more than that we rejoice in our sufferings too!”
Wait, what?
Well, he gives some good reasons, because in Christ even suffering has good outcomes. Suffering makes us better people. We learn endurance and our character improves and through all of it we gain a much deeper perspective of the hope we have, this is all true… still, it’s hard to rejoice in the midst of it.
As a kid growing up I ate breakfast cereal nearly every single day. I knew in my head which brands I liked and which I didn’t but I ate them all.
Every so often my parents would go on a frugal kick and they would start buying the off brand cereal. If you are not familiar with off brand cereal it’s the kind of cereal that comes in a bag instead of a box. They have names that are just different enough as to not infringe on a trademark. Instead of Froot Loops you get Frootie Tooties and so forth. If you have never seen these bags of cereal in the store it’s because you haven’t looked low enough, you have to look down at your feet, it’s bottom shelf stuff.
Now, here is the thing, yes I moaned and complained when I had to eat Frootie Tooties instead of Froot Loops. Frankly, the off brand stuff messed with my system quite a bit. But that isn’t real suffering. As much as I would complain, there was never one morning ever, ever, that there just was nothing to eat at the breakfast table.
For some kids that’s the choice at breakfast from time to time, nothing. I cannot even imagine that. Now that is suffering… But that was a normal part of the human experience throughout most of human history that sometimes there wasn’t enough food to go around.
If you grew up with less than others, or even with not enough to go around, I’d venture to say that you have learned things about endurance and character and hope that we who never experienced that just have not yet learned.
And that is the source of rejoicing…we don’t rejoice THAT we suffer or THAT others suffer, but we rejoice that through Christ there can be good fruit even in suffering. Some people suffer and they become bitter and that bitterness just compounds the suffering and makes it even worse. In Christ that suffering can be consecrated and purified so that good can come from it.
If you know about Paul’s ministry you know that he did not shy away from suffering but neither did he seek it out unnecessarily. For example he escaped through the wall of a city to avoid being arrested, yet another time he went straight to Jerusalem knowing that many there sought his life. It was this Paul who said:
“for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:11b-13)
A lot of people take that last verse out of context and think it means “I can accomplish all things,” when in fact in context it means I can endure all things, even hunger or need.
Lord may we remember to rejoice even in the difficulties of life because we can at least know that it is a refining fire, it is producing character and hope, it is producing good fruit through Christ who strengthens us. Amen.