That you may grow in Christ
Continuing with what God is saying to the Christian through this, we come to two very clear statements in scripture that speak to times of trial and suffering.
Rom 5:3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
Rom 5:4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
Rom 5:5 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.
and
Jas 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
Jas 1:3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
Jas 1:4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
When it comes to these two passages we find both Paul and James really upbeat about suffering and facing trials. Not because of the experience, but rather because of what God wants to do in us through the experience.
James argues, as we saw a month ago (was it really only 1 month?!!) that trials throw us back upon God. We soon realise how incapable we are of coping without Him which drive us deeper into Him, and this in turn enables Holy Spirit to progress our sanctification (make us more like Christ) which leads towards “completeness” – as we will be when we are finally glorified.
Paul argues that suffering likewise produces endurance (or steadfastness, or patience), and that in its turn this produces character, but he takes that to a different end goal of producing hope in us. Clearly as soon as we are saved God gives us an eternal hope, but then our faith gets tested by times of suffering and as we lean on God and prove Him in those times, our faith grows and that hope becomes ever more certain in us.
And in both cases the writer, under direction of Holy Spirit, sees these times as ones in which we should “rejoice” and “count it all joy”
So…. it is three weeks since we closed plfc for meetings. Are you finding that you are becoming rapidly less joyful as the weeks pass, or are you, with joy, looking to what God is doing in you through these times?