“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” [1]
Dark clouds glowered, sending a chill down the spine of anyone who paused to look at the ominous cumulus clouds rising in the northwest. A friend advised me to tune to a local station to see if there were any advisories issued. I caught the tail-end of a tornado warning. Multiple tornados had been sighted around Duncanville. Our girls were in school at Fair Meadows a block and a half from our home. Lynda and I were twenty-five miles away, working at the church in the heart of the city.
I phoned over to the nursery where Lynda was working. I told her to bring our son and a neighbour lad who was spending the day with us and meet me in the garage. We needed to be near our girls. She checked out of the nursery and hurried the boys across the street to the massive six-storey garage. As I passed through the lobby of the building, one of the secretaries working at the front asked if she might catch a ride to Duncanville if I was heading home. I told her to hurry as tornados had been sighted around Duncanville and one was approaching DeSoto.
We were all situated in our Oldsmobile Cutlass, Lynda with the two little boys in the back seat and Carlita in the passenger seat. I pulled the car out of the garage, easing onto Ervay Street and began the trip home. It would take about thirty minutes, but we would be able to pick up the girls when they were let out of classes. We were wary, but not overly concerned. The girls had already participated in several tornado drills that spring. At the first siren, all the children would move quickly to the northwest wall where they would kneel down with their heads low to the floor.
As soon as we were in the car, I tuned the radio to WFAA, listening for tornado alerts. Nearing the Red Bird Mall, the announcer intoned the warning that a tornado was moving through DeSoto and heading toward the Red Bird Mall area. Looking up and to my left, I saw the ominous sight moving rapidly toward us. We and the tornado were about to intersect.
I saw an underpass just ahead and I pushed the accelerator hard, willing the car to reach the shelter if would provide. Approaching the underpass, I braked hard and shouted to Lynda, “If I yell, grab Johnny and I’ll grab Stephen. Get out, put Johnny under you and lay down in the ditch.” Though the car was in park and the emergency brake set, I could feel the wheels grinding across the gravel as the tornado passed over our tenuous sanctuary. The sound was deafening, more frightening that anything one could imagine. Nature’s raw power was terrifying.
As suddenly as the noise had begun, it stopped; but the momentary silence was a harbinger of something almost as ominous as the tornado had been. Suddenly, we were subjected to pounding hail crashing down to destroy anything still standing after the whirlwind. The icy stones were about the size of baseballs, hurtling to earth at speeds sufficient to destroy automobiles and kill or injure anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in the open. When the hail abated slightly, I eased the car onto the highway again and drove the remaining five miles or so to the exit that led to our house.
We drove Carlita to her house before driving to the Fairmeadows School to pick up our girls. The roads were littered with downed trees left in the wake of the raging storm. We were forced to weave our way through the debris littering the streets. Power lines were arcing and some houses showed signs of damage—roofs missing, windows smashed, trees toppled. We had again witnessed creation groaning.
I’ve thought of death more in these past several years than at any time in the past. Perhaps this is because as I grow older I am continually reminded of my mortality—physical limitations become increasingly apparent and mental acuity is quite obviously diminished. Even if I wanted to deny my mortality, I would be forced by the reality of life to confess human frailty. Heaven becomes more real as I near the time when I shall cross over; and though death still holds a measure of terror, it is not the spectre it once was. Heaven grows dearer as I consider a reunion with loved ones and friends have gone before me. The Apostle has written elsewhere, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” [1 CORINTHIANS 13:12].
More to be anticipated than seeing again loved ones who have preceded me and sharing in the transformation when our Saviour comes, is that I shall see Christ. With old Job, I affirm,
“I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”
[JOB 19:25-27]
And though I know the evil of my heart, I know experientially the grace of the Lord Jesus. I am grateful that I can testify that I know the forgiveness of the Living God, I know His acceptance in the Beloved Son, I know His mercy because I accepted the salvation offered in the Saviour.
The Apostle to the Jews encourages all who believe when he writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” [1 PETER 1:3-8].
CREATION HAS BEEN GROANING SINCE THE FALL OF OUR FIRST PARENTS — “The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” [ROMANS 8:19-22].
In the days of my earthly journey, I’ve witnessed tornadoes, fierce storms the lashed the prairies with wind and hail, earthquakes that caused the earth to heave and convulse and blizzards in which sight was blotted out by the driven snow. All of us who live in the north have witnessed bitter cold at some point as temperatures plunged to mind-numbing lows. One of my daughters has survived several hurricanes, sleeping through one storm because she was exhausted and the hurricane afforded an excuse not to be engaged with studies for a couple of days. Some writers, and even I, have on occasion referred to such natural occurrences as “nature’s groanings.”
Whenever I have heard a message from this passage, and likely whenever you have hard a message that employs this passage as the text, the speaker seemed always to focus on meteorological phenomena or on geophysical events. I don’t deny that we cannot exclude such incidents. However, I note that the Apostle begins this portion of his letter with this affirmation, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” [ROMANS 8:18]. Paul is focused on something more spiritual—attacks against the saints that are futile attempts to strike out at the Saviour; and since those striking out are unable to hurt the Master, they seek to injure His servants.
I suggest that the frustration that comes when we endure unjust and unjustified attacks, the inward pain we suffer because we are followers of the Risen Son of God, loss of goods, loss of friendships, loss of standing in the community because we confess Christ as Lord is more likely what Paul had in mind. Undoubtedly, we could focus on the transitions being witnessed in western society, as increasingly it seems that Christians are attacked for—well, for being godly! We read about bakers being called bigots and fined because they attempt to honour God; we read of florists lose their business because they endeavour to avoid violating conscience; we read of armed forces personnel dismissed because they will not condone unrighteousness; or we hear of teachers and nurses dismissed because they have conscience concerning evil.
These are difficult situations, and I don’t want to minimise the injury and the sorrow that attends being forced to stand resolute, often standing alone, because of conscience sake. However, the threats and injuries suffered in these instances do not compare to the pain resulting from being a Christian in Iran, of standing for Christ in northern Nigeria, or of being found with a copy of the Word of God in North Korea. This is a generation that needs to hear again the warning issued by an unknown writer who said, “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” [HEBREWS 12:3, 4].
As I pondered the suffering of the righteous, I saw that the pain experienced was nothing less than nature groaning. Society reflects the fallen world in which we live. The downward spiral of culture is a symptom of the broken condition of mankind. And I recalled something I read some years ago. In “The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis famously noted, “The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, he has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy.
“It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bath or a football match have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.” [2]
Lewis speaks of our moments of delight as “pleasant inns” that the Father has ensured at various points along our journey toward home. What is evident is that we must not mistake these “pleasant inns” for home. We are pilgrims, making our way through a hostile environment toward a better country. Nevertheless, we are permitted to enjoy these blessings that refresh the soul—and we should do so!
We do well to recall the words drafted by that unknown writer who sought to encourage some of the earliest Christian pilgrims when he wrote, “[Heroes of the Faith] all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” [HEBREWS 11:13-16a].
My mind turned again to the painful endurance required of God’s holy people because of who they are; they suffer because of the One whom they worship. I suppose I could speak of Christians killed because they are Christians living in sub-Sahel Africa where Muslim majorities continue to stir up bitter opposition to followers of the Way. Or, I could no doubt speak of how Christians, or even those who are curious about the Faith, are imprisoned and murdered in North Korea. However, I focused attention on the pain some Christians suffer in our western world. I was particularly aware of the pain some Christian women experience.
Recently, the news has been focused on the moral sewer that is known as Hollywood. Person after person, both famous and unknown, both women and men, are coming forward to accuse a famous producer of utter moral degradation. Now, we have the “Me, too” tag circulating in the twitterverse. There is no question but that many of those now accusing this famous man of improprieties accepted his perverted demands because they imagined that giving in would make them famous. How cheaply they sold their virtue and their character in that instance! However, there is little question but that many were naïve young women when they were attacked—they had no idea of what they should do, so they kept quiet.
It is embarrassingly evident that the churches of North America are in no position to castigate the salacious, lecherous actions of those engaged in making and marketing movies. Christians sacrificed the moral high ground when we embraced the world’s view and as we witnessed multiplied scandals of priests and pastors convicted of sexual predation in our own nation during the previous three decades. Even in this past week a major news story related how a seventy-two-year-old pastor is accused of molesting several girls, some as young as five years of age. [3] Tragically, church leaders repeatedly attempted to cover over the sinful behaviour of those who were appointed to declare the Word. These attempts to hide the sinful behaviour of those occupying positions of trust brought shame on the Name of the Pure and Holy Son of God.
My mind was focused on this tragic situation as I read an article detailing how the wife of the pastor of a mega church was molested by the son of a church employee at five years of age. A distorted biblical understanding of shame compelled her to be silent concerning what had happened when she was a child. It was not until her marriage to a prominent pastor was about to dissolve that she broke the bondage of sexual shame and hiding. The same article detailed how another prominent evangelical speaker detailed how “a well-meaning mentor told [her] at twenty-five-years of age that people couldn’t handle hearing about sexual abuse.” She was warned that speaking about her own experience would sink her ministry. [4]
What I’m driving at is that the churches have often twisted the teaching of the Word to fit the world’s view of life. We are far more likely to be guided by the philosophy of this dying world than we are to confront the evil of the world. We have repeatedly attempted to cover over the sinful actions of some because we didn’t want to “air our dirty laundry.” Sunshine and fresh air is a wonderful disinfectant!
Perhaps because we have been trained by the preachers we have heard, or perhaps because we have allowed ourselves to be identified by the physical aspects of life more than by the soulish or the spiritual, whenever we read this portion of the Word, our minds seem to turn to the geophysical world or the meteorological world. However, I’m urging us as those who are twice-born and destined by eternity with the Living God, to see that societal conflicts, our ongoing cultural descent into oblivion and even the growing tribalism that marks our world is evidence of creation’s groaning.
Society divides into tribes, defining ourselves by political philosophies that allow us to anathematise those with whom we disagree; and we Christians are caught up in this madness. We define ourselves by skin colour rather than seeing one another as human. Even we Christians seem to identify as hyphenated saints rather than identifying as brothers and sisters. There are no white Christians, native Christians, black Christians or Hispanic Christians—there are only redeemed men and women known as Christians. Cultures and societies may only be thought superior in so far as they adhere to the teachings of the Creator who gives life. When a culture has departed from the teaching of the Risen Son of God, it is moving toward judgement, toward irrelevance, toward dissolution. I tremble at the Psalmist’s warning:
“The wicked shall return to Sheol,
all the nations that forget God.”
[PSALM 9:17]
I’m not suggesting that we Christians must wallow in our sinful condition; I am urging believers to lift our eyes to what is promised so that we can live as sons of God, which we are. The glory that is to be revealed to us awaits the return of the Son of God, but even now “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” The earth, the seas, the fish and the denizens of those vast oceans, the animals that populate the world and even the millions of galaxies are groaning, eagerly awaiting the revealing of the sons of God. When we are caught up in the world system, exalting culture over Christ, we are exchanging the glory for which we are destined for that which is dying.
CHRISTIANS JOIN IN THE GROANING OF CREATION — “We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” [ROMANS 8:22, 23].
I would be terribly upset if Christians were known for groaning as they conducted their daily lives—no one enjoys being with a chronic complainer. I do not mean to depreciate the fact that some groans are involuntary—such groaning cannot be stifled. Other groans are forced as a means of seeking affirmation or recognition. Though I would caution against whining, I confess that I am deeply concerned when Christians are not disturbed by the continued debasement of the world in which we live. Even more disturbing is the idea that this debasement that marks the world in which we live is too often imported into the Lord’s congregations.
Church services often are pale imitations of secular productions found at almost any concert venue rather than being times of worship. The worship team introduces several new songs each week, and since the words are portrayed on an screen without musical notes displayed, people don’t sing. This is especially true for men. It is one thing to be familiar with perhaps two-hundred-fifty hymns in a hymnal; it is quite another to be confronted with 250,000 worship songs, most of which you’ve never heard. [5] Sermons often consist of little more than consecutive platitudes strung together—they are designed to make people feel good about themselves. It is the exaltation of the “self” at the expense of the holy.
It is difficult for the conscientious believer to listen to a news broadcast or to peruse a news site without hearing of another incident detailing the ongoing assault against the Faith. Witnessing the growing hostility to the Faith, the child of God cries, “How long, Lord Jesus? How long?” Perhaps we became complacent. Perhaps we thought the world loved us. We were lulled into the arms of Morpheus, and rendered insensible of what was required of us as followers of the Risen Son of God.
I lived through those days when Christians bought into the lie that political action could advance the Kingdom of Heaven. The Moral Majority of the seventies appeared to promise that the Faith was advancing, when all along we Christians were forsaking our appointed responsibility to be salt and light. We thought that by changing the laws we could transform people, despite the clear teaching of the Word that only a transformed heart could change an individual. We traded in cheap grace, imagining that we could coerce the world into becoming righteous. We traded the power of our witness for a vote, never understanding that the faithful do not constitute a majority nor were we destined to transform society into a theocracy.
It is worth remembering that the final charge the Master delivered before ascending in the Shekinah glory has never been rescinded. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” [MATTHEW 28:19, 20 NET BIBLE]. Christians sowed the wind; now we are reaping the whirlwind [see HOSEA 8:7]. Today, we reap the harvest that came because we cease planting the good seed and permitted society to be sown with bad seed. Our situation may well be described by the dark days following the entry into the Promised Land, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” [JUDGES 17:6].
This past year, I was dismayed as I watched the elections in the United States. I was astonished at the numerous evangelical leaders who promoted the presidential candidates without concern for their lack of moral scruples. The excuse was, “We’re not electing a pastor!” As I read the books of the Chronicles and the Kings, I noted that when the king of Israel was righteous, the nation was marked by virtue. When the king was unrighteous, corrupt and lacking a moral compass, the nation reflected depravity, lacking honour and principle. The same is true in this day. When a president or a prime minister acts in an unrighteous fashion, the land quickly moves to adopt unrighteousness—the people reflect the leader. Soon, the nation is marked by a lack of ethics, indecency is in the ascendency and people become sinful.
I suggest that our society is morally confused; we have lost our way. Let me give an illustration of what I am talking about by pointing to two individuals prominently featured in the news during the past several weeks. Hugh Hefner, an aged pimp with an affinity for bathrobes, spent six decades sexually exploiting young, desperate women. When he died, newspapers lauded him, praising his civil rights legacy. He was credited with bringing sex out of the shadows.
Another ageing lecherous lothario also with an affinity for bathrobes has figuratively died. Harvey Weinstein was exposed as a sexual predator whose reign of terror left countless victims in his wake. Weinstein has spent three decades exploiting young, desperate women. The headlines concerning Weinstein reflect society’s disgust with the slobbering mess who committed shameful acts—the past is crawling out of the shadows to near universal disgust.
Here are two men whose actions toward others was indistinguishable. One is adulated; one is condemned. Our culture appears terribly confused about the notion of sexual morality, primarily because we have no notion of morality. We rejected the wisdom of the Word of God, and we marvel at how beastly people can act in our world. One minute we’re calling a creepy ninety-year-old man a hero because he coerced numerous girls to get naked for him; the next, we’re crucifying a creepy sixty-five-year-old man because he acted almost identically. [6]
These kinds of glaring inconsistencies are rather commonplace in contemporary culture. Our culture celebrates the porn industry even as we decry the sex trafficking that fuels it. Social elites mock the Vice President of the United States for respecting sexual boundaries even as we panic over the sexual harassment that Pence's policy is meant to avoid. Our society encourages guys and gals in college to get together for booze-fueled coed parties even as we wring our hands over the supposed “rape epidemic” these parties cause. Does any of this make sense?
Here is the point that is too often neglected: we Christians were never assigned responsibility to transform society; the charge we did receive was to serve the Risen Saviour. Our service was defined as making disciples; and the discipling process is defined through bringing lost people to faith in the Son of God, incorporating them into the assembly of the righteous and then teaching them. In fulfilling the Master’s command, we were assured that He would always be with us. The implication is that should we choose to modify His command, we have no assurance of His presence. Consequently, it seems apparent that many professed Christians have not known what it is to have the Lord of Glory in our midst working through us.
Every follower of the Saviour living within this Dominion of Canada quietly groans as we witness the unceasing efforts to normalise wickedness. We are astonished as we see the vigorous promotion through judicial decision and through legislation of that which is immoral and ultimately self-destructive. We are grieved as we see society decaying before our eyes. However, the rage toward the faithful does not lead us to hate or to be bitter. We pray for those in authority, asking that God will keep them from foolish and harmful decisions. We seek the welfare of those who are dying as result of their own choices. We pray for God’s mercy on our nation, asking that He might make His people bold, enabling us to speak the truth in love. What we must never do is strike out at those who torment us, even as they drag our culture down to depths our forefathers could never have imagined.
We are taught, and we believe, the validity of Peter’s words. “What credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” [1 PETER 2:20-23].
Peter’s instructions to believers experiencing opposition echo the words of the writer of the Letter to Hebrew Christians. You will recall that this unknown writer wrote, “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” [HEBREWS 12:1, 2].
CRIES FOR FULFILLING OUR HOPE REVEAL WHERE OUR HOPE LIES — “In this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” [ROMANS 8:24, 25]. What is the hope that the Apostle has in view? The answer to that question will take us back to the eighteenth verse: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” [ROMANS 8:18]. Paul is urging believers to keep in mind what is coming. Stay focused on the outcome of your faith, not on what is taking place.
What Paul has written here anticipates the manner in which Peter will open his first letter. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” [1 PETER 1:3-9]? Scope in on the sixth verse: “In this [the hope of our promised inheritance] you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.” God has promised a rich reward for His people. God, who cannot lie, has pledged on His sacred honour that we who have placed our trust in Him shall not be disappointed. All that He has promised shall come to pass.
The Word of God does not encourage the believer to dwell on the animosity of this dying world. Neither does God instruct His people to inveigh against the injustice they will experience. Rather, the child of God is taught to keep the eyes focused on what is coming, the salvation that is shortly to be revealed at Christ’s return.
The Apostle is not ignoring the trials of the saints; in fact, he is acknowledging that such does occur. Elsewhere, he speaks of the pressures he faced, pressures far greater than most of us will ever know. Paul spoke of the countless beatings he had received because of his faith. He also stated that he was often near death. Then, he gave an accounting of life as an Apostle. “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure” [2 CORINTHIANS 11:24-27]?
Elsewhere, Paul has written, “We [Apostles] are fools for Christ’s sake… We are weak… [We] are held … in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labour, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things” [1 CORINTHIANS 4:9-13]?
The trials of the saint are part and parcel of following Christ. Encouraging the saints in Salonika, the Apostle had written, “When we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s co-worker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know” [1 THESSALONIANS 3:1-4].
Paul’s teaching to the saints in Thessalonica is consistent with his encouragement to the believers who responded to his message during his first missionary tour. You will recall what Doctor Luke wrote of the ministry of Paul and Barnabas at the conclusion of that first tour. “When [the missionaries] had preached the gospel to [Derbe] and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” [ACTS 14:21, 22].
Tribulations and trials are promised to the saints. But something far greater is coming. You’ve heard the story of the aged saint who was in hospital with her final illness. The doctors had informed her that she did not have much longer to live. So, as the pastor visited that day, she spoke of her funeral. “I want to be buried with a fork in my hand,” she informed the preacher.
“A fork? Why ever would you ask that a fork be in your hand?” the pastor asked.
“I’ve been to many potlucks,” the elderly woman said. “After the salad and main course, there is always an announcement for us to keep our forks. Dessert will be served after the dishes are cleared away. I want people to know that something sweeter is coming.”
The old saint was correct, of course; something better is coming for the child of God. Paul urges the believer to look forward to what God has prepared. We cannot imagine what God has prepared, but we live in anticipation of something far better than anything we have ever witnessed—of that we are certain. Writing the saints in Corinth, Paul speaks of the transience of this present life and the permanence of what is coming.
“We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him’—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” [1 CORINTHIANS 2:7-10].
I speak to people who know something of hurt. Tears have washed down your face, even in this week. You’ve witnessed the growing hostility toward the Faith from this fallen world, and you’ve found yourself praying, “Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.” Let me encourage you. When trouble comes, and trouble shall come, remember that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Remember, that “hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
Perhaps I’ve spoken to one who has yet to put faith in the Risen Son of God. Let this be the day that you place yourself under His reign. Invite Him to take control of your life. Confess that you accept His sacrifice because of your sinful condition. The Word of God promises, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” [ROMANS 10:9, 10].
Perhaps I’m speaking to one who has yet to openly confess Christ as Master of life. You attend the services of the congregation, even finding a place of service. Yet, for some reason you have never openly identified with the Saviour in baptism since you believed. What keeps you from this open identification? This is the day to come, seeking opportunity to follow Him in baptism. He identified with you; and now, you are called to identify with Him. Put on the uniform of a believer; follow the Master in baptism today.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
[3] Fox59, “Court Docs: Rushville pastor lured young girls into office with candy, molested them,” October 19, 2017, http://fox59.com/2017/10/19/court-docs-rushville-pastor-lured-young-girls-into-office-with-candy-molested-them/, accessed 19 October 2017
[4] Joshua Pease, “Why Hollywood Sexual Abuse Scandals Hit Close to (Church) Home, October 17, 2017, https://churchleaders.com/news/culture/311881-hollywood-sexual-abuse-scandals-hit-close-church-home.html?utm_source=outreach-cl-daily-nl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text-link&utm_campaign=cl-daily-nl&maropost_id=742210145&mpweb=256-4811036-742210145, accessed 19 October 2017
[5] For insight into this matter, consult David Murrow, “The Secret That Keeps Men From Singing in Worship,” Churchleaders.com, October 16, 2017, https://churchleaders.com/worship/worship-articles/170639-david-murrow-secret-that-keeps-men-from-singing-in-worship.html/3, accessed 20 October 2017
[6] I borrowed the ideas and several quotes in the previous paragraphs from Matt Walsh, “Please Don’t Act Shocked And Appalled by Harvey Weinstein if You Celebrated Hugh Hefner,” Daily Wire, October 16, 2017, http://www.dailywire.com/news/22315/walsh-please-dont-act-shocked-and-appalled-harvey-matt-walsh?utm_source=dwemail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=102117-news&utm_campaign=position7?utm_source=dwemail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=102117-news&utm_campaign=position7, accessed 21 October 2017
