What does Romans say about suffering?Sample

Suffering Redeemed

Look around and you’ll quickly identify suffering, grief, and injustice. Maybe you’ve even experienced injustice. Maybe you’ve gone through difficult seasons. Or maybe you’ve experienced deep and profound grief due to loss.

Suffering rarely makes sense. We rarely have all of our questions answered in these sorts of seasons. And the hard truth is: most of our questions regarding suffering will continue to go unanswered.

However, Romans 8:18 provides us with a perspective that can help us in seasons of suffering. In this verse, Paul, the author of Romans, points us to the future. All throughout Scripture, God has been working within His people to bring redemption and make things new.

We live in one reality, which includes suffering and grief. But one day, God will return to earth and complete the work He has begun in Jesus. When God returns, Scripture says that all suffering will cease. There will be no more tears, pain, or sickness.

Paul’s encouragement to us is this: persevere through your current season of suffering because what awaits you will be worth waiting for.

When God returns and brings us into His presence, we will be perfected and made whole, and we will no longer consider the past pain we’ve endured. This is why Paul says that our present suffering cannot compare to what will be revealed in us in the future.

How often do you think about heaven? How often do you praise God for His continued work of transforming us and making us new? Take some time to think about these things. The more we consider our future with God, the more this perspective will encourage us to endure difficult seasons of life.