18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Romans 8:18-21 NIV
18[But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us!
19For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].
20For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it–[yet] with the hope
21That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children.
Romans 8:18-21 AMP
Life is a series of roads we must take on the way to the Kingdom. Sometimes it’s a hard road, sometimes it’s an easy road. Some parts are uphill. Some parts let us coast through. Sometimes it’s scenic. Sometimes it’s downright boring.
Some parts of it will fork into a number of different but seemingly plausible branches, and we must be alert and observant enough to see whether there really are different paths to be taken, or its really just one wide (straight) stretch in the road that we’ve been walking on all along. As Christians I’m guessing most of the time it would be the latter.
But whatever the condition of the road, whatever direction it seems to be going, I know the following to be true:
- Wherever we are, there God put us, and there we should be content.
- We will never understand everything on this earth, but that is perfectly alright.
- God will never put us on a road on which it is impossible to walk.
- Some roads are harder than others because that really is the only path available.
- All roads eventually end, and we will finally be able to sit down, put our feet up, and rest.
So all of these things that make us tired, oh so tired, and stressed and physically sick, and emotionally drained, and financially constrained — all of these ‘present sufferings’ are but a hiccup, or a hump in the road, on which we are traveling on the way to the Kingdom, to ‘glorious freedom’. All of these things will eventually end, and when they do, we will finally find out exactly how petty and insignificant our worries were, how small and light the burdens that we carried that had seemed so back breaking and impossible when we were dragging them along.
Reflection Question:
What are the things that tire you out right now? Do you have any complaints or worries that are so big that they block out the light of God? What should you be doing differently in order to live the full and free life of a child of God?
Lord, I await with eager expectation the things that You will reveal to me, and while I’m waiting I will live as one who is to be the recipient of a great inheritance, with quiet dignity and righteousness, and with words and actions befitting a child of God. Amen
