Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
Romans 8:18 NLT
I have several devotions that I read, and by an awesome coincidence, the readings from today all dealt with the concept of suffering.
We have always been told to endure and persevere; to finish the race; to suffer with patience. This is also what we tell others, sometimes using the exact same words.
I have to be honest though, there have been times when I wanted to hit something when I have to hear those words again. When I’m hurt and in pain and in the middle of something deep and harrowing, those are the last words on earth that could help.
But there is nothing for it but to endure, to persevere. To remember that glory is coming. That victory is inevitable.
And that sometimes, we have to go through the fire, be burned and broken, before we can be purified and made into something completely pure and new.