The Secret To Suffering

Most of us when we read Romans chapter 8 love reading verse 1 and learning that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And we love reading verses 38-39, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

But who even hardly remembers reading

Verse 17, “And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.”

Last week we learned that being adopted into the family of God provides us with some amazing privileges. We get to call God, Abba, daddy. As joint heirs with Christ we have a new identity, an inheritance to all that God possesses. We love the idea of sharing in His riches and glory but here in verse 17 the apostle Paul reminds us we also get to share in Jesus sufferings too.