Romans 5:3-4I have a daily exercise routine using the Wii Fit. Among other things I do military presses with weights, push-ups and jackknife exercises. It isn’t always easy. In fact, I would say it is never easy. But I keep doing these things because they keep me healthy.
Every time I feel like stopping, every time I want to give up, I remind myself that what I am doing is building muscle. The workout is helping me feel better even if I don’t feel great as I am going through the routine.
Thinking back on the parable of the sower we have seen the different types of soil that the seed has fallen on. Some of the ground was good soil, ready to grow a great harvest. The other soils were not good – too hard, too shallow, too overgrown with thorns.
These represent the tough times in life. Sometimes we feel that we are the hard path, beaten down by life. Other times we are like the rocky soil – our faith is not deep enough to get us through the tough challenges in life. Other times life is like a field of thorns choking out our hopes and resolve.
But Paul has some encouragement in his letter to the Roman believers. What attitude does he have toward suffering? What does suffering produce? Perseverance? Character?
While it may be difficult for us to rejoice in the times when we suffer, we must maintain the attitude that we will get through these difficult challenges. We must remember that the tough times of life – the thorns and rocks, the days when we are beaten down – will ultimately make us better people.
If we can face our challenges and setbacks with confident faith that God is with us and that God loves us, we can emerge on the other side of trials with a deeper and stronger faith. As we endure suffering we build our faith muscles making us more able to face future hardships. And as we face hardships in the knowledge of God’s love we will have hope for our ultimate victory over the pain with God at our side.
DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you keep a positive outlook in hard times?
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