Freedom Fighters

"Therefore, Being Justified By Faith..." Part three

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Romans 5:1-5

Today I would like to go over verses 3and 4 of these passage of Scripture.

I do not know about you, my brothers, but I once thought that since you have surrendered yourself over to God's will and you have found peace with God and that your war with God is over we get on with the lifelong rejoicing of God. When I say rejoicing, I mean dancing with hands waving and the southern gospel playing (sorry Bill), with my foot stomping and my mouth shouting Halleluiah!! Halleluiah I have been redeemed!! But that is not Paul meant when he wrote, "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope."

So let's run through the list:

1. Glory in tribulation. James puts it this way, "My brethren, count
it all joy when you fall into various trails, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." I get the idea but I'm still uncomfortable with it.

2. Tribulation produces perseverance. Malachi puts it this way, "He
will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering of righteousness." It's my turn in the refiners fire, got it. Well I guess I could stand to lose a little dross.

3. Perseverance builds character. Paul puts it this way. "For you
are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Now what can be said about your character? Does it have moral and ethnic structure? Does it have integrity? What kind of characters do you associate with? Does your character reflect Christ?

4. Character brings hope. The church in Thessalonica had been
encouraged by these words, "Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father."

This is list that I have a hard time keeping in context. I literally have to say to myself...glory in tribulation, it's going to produce perseverance that's going to build character and bring on the hope I need. I still, from time to time, ask God why it was necessary for Him to create some of the characters I run into on a daily basis. But I eventually rest in the understanding that it may not be about my witness to them. It may be about time for them to bring out something in me that needs to go. Maybe it is about suffering for His righteousness.

Rejoice my brothers, Rejoice!! Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy.

God's Word for Today: 1 Samuel 13-14; Luke 10:1-24

Think about this: Do you think the work God gives us to do is never easy? Jesus says His yoke is easy, His burden is light. People sometimes refuse to do God's work just because it is easy. This is sometimes because they cannot believe that easy work is His work; but there may be a very bad pride in it...Some, again, accept it with half a heart and do it with half a hand. But however easy any work may be, it cannot be well done without taking thought about it. And such people, instead of taking thought about their work, generally take thought about the morrow, in which no work can be done any more than in yesterday. George Macdonald