Our Bibles have a lot to say about suffering and character development, but Paul ups the ante by connecting the whole thing to hope in Romans 5. I’m not sure we understand hope very well anyway (I’ve certainly heard plenty of confusing lessons on the subject); but tying hope to suffering fairly makes the mind spin. Let’s break it down.
Romans 5:2 talks about rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. This isn’t too difficult – as He is glorious, we too will be glorious as He intended at our creation as we one day stand in His glorious presence. In the meantime, however, we are trudging rather ingloriously through a tough world that lacerates glory. And I think this is where we get off track because too often the word “hope” sounds like a hollow howl in the wind whistling of some far-off place we can only get to through death, which, frankly, scares us. Someday we will be transformed – in the twinkling of an eye. But that day! When? To the God who looks at a day as a thousand years and a thousand years like a day… wow. If only we could have some foretaste of it now.
But that’s really where Romans 5:1-11 is going if we read it carefully. You see, what’s happening is we are justified with God through Jesus by faith. In other words, this is something we have already. Not feeling it? Hold on – because we have something else too. We have God pouring His love into us by the Holy Spirit – and this is one side of that foretaste. It resonates with us because it’s exactly the kind of love we long for, need, and know is true deep in our God-imaged selves.
Yet the world will do its worst. It’ll throw everything it can at us, ridicule us, rage at us, ignore us, you name it. And this is suffering. But suffering through it is the kind of exercise that produces perseverance – just like suffering through some physical workout can get you that physical endurance. But the whole time I’m living by the Spirit, pumping the love the Spirit is pouring into my heart. And I come out of it a better person – a person of character. And this is the other side of hope – because as I look at the person I am becoming, as I am developing a character that looks more and more like God’s character, as I am testing the strength to live as He wants and finding it true, I can see the glorious creature God is making me into! So, this hope is no longer hollow – it is filled with rock-solid evidence of the power of God working in our lives – the power to transform, the power to resurrect, the power to never disappoint, the power to save….