3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, Romans 5:3
If you have ever traveled through Atlanta Georgia you know there is no easy route. One cannot go around the traffic. According to your time of travel, you could go through with a little stress or a lot.
When I read Romans 5-6, I think about the great truth of God’s blessing given into our lives because of grace. When Paul wrote, “we have peace with God,” I find myself praising Him for the work of Christ on my behalf. Jesus did not go around the cross. Jesus died in my place. He demonstrated the importance of going through. Here is what Paul wrote:
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us
I am so excited to tell you how much Jesus loves you. I am also excited to tell you how much Jesus is going to grow you in your walk with Him. Jesus is a great producing God (5:3). How does God produce growth in your life?
Paul writes, “through suffering.”
I can hear your question: But wait Pastor, does not God’s peace come with a guarantee that I will not have problems?
Brothers and sisters, God does give peace and there is a guarantee of continued peace. But the peace is not a free zone away from the problems and pains of this life.
God gives us peace in the midst of the spiritual traffic jams of life. You and I cannot go around these. God is producing great things in us as we go through (with Him) suffering.
Paul informs us of three things God is producing:
- He is producing people who live life in the midst of traffic jams. It is the person who endures trials who makes a difference in the world.
- He is producing people of character. Character is who we are when no one is watching.
- He is producing people who live with confidence (hope) knowing the traffic jams of life are not God’s hold-ups, they are God’s hook-ups leading to effective witness for God.
John Maxwell says that we are to cease allowing our trials to work us over and we are to become people who take our trials and make them work for us.
This is what God is producing. Brothers and sisters, I find two keys to effectiveness when you come to the traffic jams of life:
- Make sure you are always at peace with God. This means you are in constant fellowship, consistent obedience, and complete surrender to His purposes in life.
- Make sure you are pursuing all that God is producing in your spiritual traffic jams. God is making you into a diamond for Him.
Father thank you for the traffic jams of life. May I cease praying about how to go around them and may I center my prayer in embracing the productivity that comes from these moments of life.