5:3a
We stand in the grace of God, but we need to understand what that means in practical terms. As verses 3 and 4 make abundantly clear it does not mean an easy life, and definitely not one free from suffering and difficulty. I guess we would all like a problem free life, but that is not the promise (though we will have times of peace and freedom from major problems). Rather the promise is how God will see us through these times, and work in us to bless us in the midst of these times. When we go through trials we experience many emotions. Guilt will often be one of them, wondering if we are suffering because we have done wrong. Has God abandoned us? Is He angry with us? We can feel overwhelmed. We need to remind ourselves that we stand in the grace of God. We are in right standing with the Lord. So, rather than seeing suffering as a punishment we “glory in it”, because we know that it produces fruit.
5:3b,4
So what is the fruit that suffering produces? First it produces perseverance. It teaches us to keep on going, to continue doing the right thing, to keep on following God. Part of what God wants to produce in us is a character that persists in trusting in Him, in following Him. This is the attitude that Jesus has. And this character produces hope. Now see the order here. We would probably go in reverse. We would want the hope first, then that would produce the character, then we would be able to persevere. But God’s order is not that way around. He produces the perseverance first, in fact the suffering comes first, then the perseverance. Our keeping going makes us into the sort of person that is more Christlike, then we will find hope arising in us.
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