Glorifying Christ in our Suffering

 Romans 8:12-17, II Corinthians 4:5-12

 Romans 8 talks about how we are no longer slaves to the flesh – to sin since we are now children of God, joint heirs with Christ. Paul states that if we suffer with Christ we may also be glorified with him.

In the Roman world the word “glory” might suggest success, prosperity, and freedom from weakness and suffering. This is not the character of Christian suffering in this life, however.

In II Corinthians 4 Paul talks about how in their mission work they don’t proclaim – boast about how great they themselves are but they proclaim, brag about Jesus Christ as Lord. He tells how God has shone in their hearts to give knowledge of the glory of God. This was modeled for them in the face of Christ. He tells about this treasure using the metaphor of earthly jars for our earthly bodies. This makes it clear that the extraordinary power belongs to God not from us.

How does one glorify Christ in our suffering? Paul talks about his own experience which we as joint heirs with Christ can also have. Though we may not have the physical beatings and jailings Paul and the other apostles experienced we can still persevere through our earthly sufferings like Paul and his team did. We can be afflicted but not crushed, perplexed and confused but not driven to despair since we know God is in control. We may feel persecuted but knowing God is for us can keep us from despair. We may feel struck down with the troubles of life but know that we are not destroyed since we know that our God who can bring life out of death, like God did with Christ, will carry us through.

We achieve these steady and assured responses to suffering from the power of God’s spirit within us. They make Jesus visible in our lives and give glory to God. In verse 12 Paul tells how that by him and all Christians embodying the death and resurrection of Christ we may like Jesus be a channel of life to others. We are in this together, and all for the glory of Christ.

When we encounter trouble and hardships may we let Christ be glorified in our faith that God will help to pull us through since God raised our joint heir Christ from death to life and will do the same for us the other children of God. Amen.

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