BOASTING in HOPE – BOOSTING with DIGNITY..!

Let’s read Romans 5: 2b - 5

“... we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us”.

Did you ever share a testimony highlighting your “sufferings”? Did you ever “glory” in your suffering? We will glory in our sufferings if we really understand the culmination process of “sufferings” to “hope”. 

If SUFFERING is the raw-material, HOPE is the end-product.

Paper is produced from wood, but what a contrast there is between the both. Wood is rugged and hard, but paper is soft and flexible. How does wood produce paper? Only if the wood is taken through rigorous manufacturing process (suffering). People who manufacture PAPER glory in the WOOD logs they have even before it is produced as PAPER. Why?? Because they know for a fact that WOOD logs after de-barking and chipping produces WOODCHIPS, which after controlled cooking produces PAPER PULP, which after a certain process of cleaning and rigorous pressing produces PAPER..!!

Similarly, SUFFERING produces an attitude of LONG-BEARANCE, which subsequently produces a Christ-like CHARACTER, which eventually produces HOPE that gives divine DIGNITY by the filling and re-filling of God’s Love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

 “..our days are few and brief, like grass, like flowers, blown by the wind and gone forever” (Psalm 103:15, 16). Our days are few and hence our SUFFERING is for a very short time as well. Stop complaining about your present SUFFERING and start boasting in your future HOPE of the glory of God.

SUFFERING lasts only for a moment when compared to the everlasting GLORY...!!