Glory Trials
“... We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance …” ~Romans 5:3
Are trials a burden to you? Do you see any glory– any reason for boasting– in them? The healthy Christian, Paul says, does. We rejoice, we glory in our sufferings. At the beginning of Philippians 3, Paul uses the same word to describe the Christian’s attitude towards Christ: We “glory in Christ Jesus” (v.3)!
How can we glory in suffering? Does Paul expect us to be some kind of spiritual masochists? No, of course not! But the healthy Christian is supposed to count it all joy when trials of all different sizes and shapes come into his life (James 1:3). How do we do this? By remembering, in the first place, what we become through trials.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope … (Romans 5:3–4)
Trials wean us from this world, they teach us to say no to sin, they instill virtues into us like endurance, character, and hope. I am not sure there is any way to get these virtues behind the back of difficulty. Luther said three things are absolutely essential in the making of a theologian: oratio (prayer), meditatio (reading), and tentatio (temptation).
In the second place, we can glory in trials because of what we experience in them. We experience ever-fresh revelations of the love of God in Christ.
… and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 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 5:4–5)
Yet we have to choose to view trials from this perspective. Do you? Most of us don’t. Have you ever considered the importance of perspective or attitude in trials? The old saying remains true: attitude determines altitude. Do you know that your attitude under a burden can make it heavier or lighter? The problem with too many of us is that we approach burdens as a burden, and so it is no wonder we feel crushed by them.
How would athletes at the local Crossfit gym fare if they went to the workout thinking, Our coach is so mean! Why does he make me do four sets of ten reps of 135 lb deadlifts? It’s just not fair! Those people outside on the road aren’t working like this. They’re just sitting in their cars having a jolly old time of it! Can you imagine how discouraging such thoughts would be in an athlete’s mind? But nobody thinks like that in the gym. A gym is a place where we pay others to hurt us because we know we need it and because we know it’s good for us.
Well, the same is true when God sends trials into our lives. He is too wise to err and too loving ever to cause you (or me) a needless tear. Yet how often we doubt His kind providence.
When things go wrong in your life, listen to yourself think. What thoughts go through your mind? Here’s my kind heavenly Father at work again growing my ability to endure hardship, to have hope, and to be excellent. Or do you find yourself falling prey to self-pity? It’s just not fair. Nobody else has to carry these kinds of burdens. Why me, Lord? Why do you afflict me like this?
So this week your homework is to listen to yourself think. Ask yourself four simple questions:
What happened? What went wrong and why?
When things went wrong, what thoughts went through my mind?
What does the Bible say about those thoughts? Are they true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8)? Or are they false, dishonorable, unjust, impure, ugly, reprehensible, detestable, and blameworthy?
How should I be thinking?
This four-step process is applicable every time you find yourself responding badly with sinful actions, sinful thoughts, or even sinful emotions. In each case, the problem begins with our thoughts. Ask God to help you put off the one and put on the other!