Something that I have notice about our little Luna as she has been with us longer and longer is the change that has come about because of time. I’ll never forget the first time we took her in the car. She shook, she drooled, she paced. I could be wrong, but I’m thinking she thought we were going to take her and leave her as was done to her previously. Yet with each time we took her in the car, her responses changed. It took awhile, but now she gets excited to jump in the car for it usually means good things. She trusts us.
I am conscious of my responses to recent stressors. I’m not proud of my responses, however, again, it’s the realization and the dealing and the guiding back to the truth. I have to remember this, we are being changed, through our struggle and choices. Yes. My worst enemy is the lies I tell myself. So let’s do it.
Jesus told Ananias, after Paul’s meeting on the road to Damascus, that he would show Paul how much he would suffer for the name. Before Paul took his first step of faith and preaching, he knew he was called to suffer. I don’t have to wonder if he thought back on that time, the story is told three times in Acts. This meeting changed the whole course of his life. (Acts 9)
I don’t think I think about how drastically life has changed when I chose to follow Christ. The choices I have made were different. The part that is tripping me up is how much. How much suffering and trials will be a part of my life? Each of us could make a list. I think I just need to say it aloud, confess I’m looking at the storm, I just am feeling overwhelmed and tired. So now, that I’ve confessed all this…I want to find the verses.
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith[b] into this grace in which we stand, and we[c] rejoice[d] 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.” Romans 5:1-5 ESV
Peace, grace, hope. Gifts given liberally. What does it mean to hope in the glory of God? It seems easier to rejoice in hope than to rejoice in sufferings. It’s not exactly the suffering we are thrilled about here, but what the suffering produces. In suffering, if we have faith, things start to develop in our life. Endurance. Character. Hope.
Endurance, think with me about refining silver. Now, I don’t know much about it, other than what I have researched here, but from what I see, to remove all impurities from the silver, it must be held over the fire. However the silversmith cannot leave, even for a moment, or else the silver could be ruined. He keeps the silver in the fire until he can see his own image. The process is long, hard, but the end result is beautiful. Paul is saying here that suffering, being in the heat, produces endurance, a steadfastness. A perspective that remembers that in our suffering and trials, we are never alone. He is with us in the fire.
Okay, so I know I was going to stay with Paul, but it does make me think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The story found in Daniel 3, tells of Nebuchadnezzar forcing his kingdom to bow to the golden image. The three men are obvious in their refusal and are brought before the king who is raging with anger. He requires their obedience, and they respond with a spoken hard refusal. Even if the God we serve does not save us, we will not bow. And they are thrown in the fire. Yet, when Nebbie K Nezzar (if you know, you know.) looks into the fire, there are four, not three. “Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” Daniel 9:25 CSBA He was with them in the fire and they come out with not even the smell of smoke on their clothes.
Endurance says, no matter the next step, I can trust the God who is with me. When I am facing trials and suffering of many kinds, I can keep coming back to hope, faith, and love. I am surrounded, yes, by all the things, I am even more powerfully surrounded by my God.
Then Paul says, endurance produces character. Allow me to share this quote about this very word:
“δοκιμή (dokimē). n. nom. fem. sing. test, ordeal, evidence, character. Denotes a test, ordeal, or examination, or the approved character of someone or something. The noun dokimē is used to describe Christian character as the quality of being approved/proven or of having stood the test (Rom 5:4; 2 Cor 2:9; 9:13; Phil 2:22)” Sun Hee Kim, “Testing,” in Lexham Theological Wordbook, ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
Going back to the silversmith, it’s not done until he sees his image in the silver. All that we endure develops in us (if we choose) to make us more like his son, Jesus. Think of his short life here on this earth, what he endured, how he stood the test, and accomplished the greatest gift ever received.
Peace and love, friends.
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