Blessed Are the Messy

day five

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Romans 8:18

Sometimes, the world just seems bad. Especially now in the midst of a pandemic. We're bombarded with bad news of death, hate, and unrest from all sides, we see pain and sin everywhere, and it's just hard to take it all in. There's still a lot of good in the world, of course, but let's face it: there's a lot of suffering.

But as many times as we've heard it before, God has a purpose for all this pain. If we lived perfect, painless lives on earth, what would there be to look forward to in Heaven? I read a quote somewhere that said, "My home is in heaven. I'm just traveling through this world." Have you ever been on a trip that was either so long or so exhausting that you were really, really glad to be back home when it was over? Sure, it could have been fun and exciting, and maybe you made new friends and memories, but being away and struggling a little made you appreciate home so much more. 

God pulls us through struggles for a lot of reasons, but I believe one of them is so the glory revealed to us will be even more, well, glorious. After this travel through the world, we can rejoice when we're at last safe at home. 

Though they definitely can be, sufferings don't have to be large-scale tragedy or trauma; they can take the form of temptation, stress, illness, or a million other things all of us deal with. When your sufferings are at their sharpest, just remember that what is coming is so much better than you could ever imagine. Even if you don't have a single happy moment on earth, what is waiting on the other side of the clouds makes up for all of it a hundred times over. No matter what happens in the world today, find your strength in hoping for the glory that is to come.