Romans 5:3-5 “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” This episode talks about why it is so important to talk about our sufferings with others instead of pretending all is perfect in our world. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Do We Boast In Our Sufferings?
Romans 5:3-5 “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
I don’t know about you, but I don’t know a lot of people who boast in their sufferings. I know a lot of people who hide their sufferings. People who pretend they aren’t suffering. I often see people who boast of their successes. They can’t wait to tell you about their new car or their new job. However, when something bad happens, they do not talk about it and many even go so far as to hide any suffering.
This is a shame and it does everyone a disservice. When we hide our failures or our suffering and we pretend that everything is ok, then it makes other people feel alone in their suffering. I understand why people hide their suffering, I just wish we wouldn’t. I get it, when others know what you are going through it puts you in a vulnerable position because they may make fun of you. They may also pity you or make you feel bad for going through whatever it is you are going through. The reverse of that is also true. When people know you are suffering they can help you and they can help give you strength because you don’t feel so alone.
I really enjoy when people talk about their struggles. I honestly wish we all did it more often. The reason I feel this way is because the enemy makes us feel alone so often. He makes us feel as though we are the only person going through something and like no one understands us. When we don’t talk about our struggles, and we just keep them to ourselves, then we can start to be ashamed of them. The enemy starts whispering our ear all these lies about whatever it is we are going through. He will tell us we are weak, or we should have known better, or we deserve whatever is happening. Whatever it is that he is telling you, it is a lie. If you are going through something right now, I guarantee that there are plenty of other people that have gone through it. No matter how obscure you think it may be, I promise you, you are not the only one. Find someone else who has and talk with them. Or, just talk with your friends. If they are true friends, they will listen and be understanding even if they haven’t gone through it.
Once we talk about these things, whatever we are suffering through, it brings that thing into the light. The enemy can’t survive in the light. This is why he prefers that we don’t talk about things and we keep them in the darkness. The enemy thrives in the darkness. When we keep things secret and we don’t talk about them, he is able to keep saying whatever he wants to us because we don’t have anyone else to speak truth and light into our situation. I believe this is why we have so many suicides in this country. People who are depressed don’t talk about it because they are ashamed of how they are feeling. They keep their feelings to themselves because they don’t want to burden anyone else and then the enemy tells them all these lies. Because they aren’t sharing their feelings or plans with others, we aren’t able to speak love and truth into their lives. The enemy has convinced them that we would be better off without them and we aren’t able to to tell them differently because we don’t know what the are feeling. We could help change this by making it normal to talk about our struggles. If we could all judge less and love more we might be able to turn the tides.
I want to get back to the verse because it points out something that I don’t think we are all aware of. It says, “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” I think we have all wondered at one time or another why we had to go through something. I am sure every person listening to this today has gone through suffering at one point or another. Did you ask God why you had to go through it? I know I do sometimes. This verse doesn’t answer why you had to go through that specific suffering, however, it does explain what we can gain from suffering.
Suffering produces endurance. It doesn’t feel like it when we are in it. When we are in it we feel depleted, we feel as though we don’t have enough strength to get out of bed. However, we always do manage to get through it and we manage to get out of bed eventually. The next time we go through something difficult we have a little more endurance, we last a little longer before we feel like we want to give up. It may be gradual and you may not notice it, especially if you have the enemy whispering in your ear. But, now you have this scripture assuring you that suffering produces endurance.
Endurance produces character. I can definitely see this. If we have suffered through something hard, we are not the same afterwards. What we take from each circumstance might be different, but it changes all of us. I know when my kids were little I would watch the tv show Super Nanny, and I would quietly judge the parents of those kids. I would say things in my mind like, “If my kid ever did that I would…” I never really finished that sentence, or if I did, I can’t remember now what I said. Then my kids got a little older and my kids did that thing, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I remember asking myself years down the road, “If your kid did that you would what Catherine, how would you finish that sentence because your kid is doing that.” Going through the experience of raising strong willed children has definitely built my character. I have so much compassion for all parents now. I get it, parenting is hard, no matter what your children do. I will be the last person to judge a parent because of those difficult years.
The verse ends with, “character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” We are back to hope again. Character produces hope. I can see how if we have struggled and we have built up our endurance, built up our character then we would have more hope. Often times we look at our struggles in life as defeats. However, we made it though them. We might not have gotten the outcome that we wanted but we did survive them. Yesterday I talked about how hope might be difficult if it seems like you have been let down in the past. I love the ending of this verse because it addresses this very thing.
“Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” I love this. I love picturing God just pouring his love into our hearts. Take a minute, close your eyes and try to picture God holding a pitcher and pouring His love into your heart, filling it up. I don’t know why but when I picture it the liquid in the pitcher is gold or bright white, like a light. I can just feel my heart feeling full with God’s love. God gave us all the Holy Spirit, how many of us are using it? Are you letting the Holy Spirit guide your dreams and desires? Are you spending time listening to what the Holy Spirit wants you do? Are you asking God to send you the Holy Spirit in times of struggle. One of the shortest and most powerful prayers you can say is “Come Holy Spirit Come. Those four words will bring with them so much strength and power.
Let’s all try to boast of our struggles more. Instead of always trying to seem like everything is perfect and we are perfect, let’s start being real and talking more about what is truly going on in our lives. If we start, maybe others will follow. Let’s let the world know that it is normal to struggle, everyone struggles at some point or another. Let’s try to be open to hearing others struggles without judging. Even if we don’t understand, we can still be empathetic knowing we have gone through things that they wouldn’t understand. Also, let’s invite the Holy Spirit into our lives more. He is our strength and power. God filled our heart with love through Him.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us boast of our struggles. Give us the grace of boldness so we can do this freely without worry of condemnation. Help us begin to talk about our struggles so that others may follow. Lord, help us to develop a good character through our struggles and not a resentful or bitter character. We thank you for filling our hearts with Your love Lord. Help us to see that hope does not disappoint and help us to hope more fully. Lord, I pray that you help all those that are struggling with mental illness, especially depression. There are far too many of your children taking their own lives because the enemy is telling them it’s what is best. Help them to speak out about their suffering and open their hearts and minds to hear us when we speak truth, love and light into their lives. Lord, you are amazing and we love you so very much. We are so grateful for all the struggles you have carried us through. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow. Have a blessed day!