Romans 8:17-18 “And since we are His children, we are His heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His sufferings. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.”
When Jesus walked the earth, He made it very clear that there would be hard times ahead (2 Timothy 3:1) and as it says in Romans we would share His sufferings. Often times we have no idea what others are going through, the cross they bare, the weight of the burdens they carry, the problems not spoken of for one reason or another. And yes, even that person sitting in front of you, behind you or beside you at church, may be weighted down and suffering and you have no idea. Not everyone is able to share their problems with others. This is not always a matter of pride but of privacy, or a product of how they were raised, there may be many reasons they are unable to give voice to what they are going through, but God does know their sufferings. And handing your burden over to Him (Psalms 55:22) does not mean they suddenly disappear, but they do become easier to carry. He provides us with the strength to move forward and the fact that “we are His heirs” reassures us that there is a brighter future. We have a relationship with the Father, we are His adopted children, in Ephesians 1:6 we are called His beloved, and there is no greater gift than to be called a child of God. But as it says in Romans, if we want to share His glory than we must also share His sufferings. While this verse points to a specific type of suffering and inheritance (suffering with Him, being rejected by man, being unjustly put to death to share His glory) we do know that as believers our inheritance is based on His grace and our faith. Edmund Clowney tells a story about the French Protestants who suffered because of their faith. In
“1685 Protestant public worship became a crime. Men caught at secret worship services in the fields were sent to the galleys. Chained to a rowing bench, they slaved at the oars until they died. A replica of one of the great galley oars hangs in the museum (of the Desert) today. Underneath is a model of a galley. Beside it are inscribed the words of a Reformed Christian galley slave: ‘My chains are the chains of Christ’s love.'”
How great a love they had for Christ, a love so deep that they were willing to suffer as He had suffered. We may never experience being put to death because of our faith in Christ, but we do experience trials that cause us pain physically and/or emotionally. As those who follow Christ, we will experience sufferings, mine may be different than yours, and yours may be different than the next persons, but none of it is meaningless. Until next time may God bless you and bring peace to your heart.