SUFFERING AND GLORY JOINED TOGETHER AS ONE

Sylvia Pearce

“The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

"Before the world, suffering is a reproach, but before Me it is an infinite honor. Suffering is an extinguisher of My wrath, and an obtainer of My favor. Suffering makes a man in My sight worthy of love, for the sufferer is like Me. Suffering is a hidden treasure which no one can make good. Suffering changes an earthly man into a heavenly man. Suffering brings with it the estrangement of the world, but confers, instead, My intimate familiarity. It lessens delight and increases grace. He who rightly knows how profitable suffering is ought to receive it as a gift worthy of God."

 

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“The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us (Romans 8: 18).  Therefore, suffering and glory are the opposite ends of the same reality.  It is like a pencil with a sharp point on one end, and an eraser on the other. One pencil, yet two ends. The point represents the sharpness of painful situations, and the eraser represents the presence of God’s glory erasing our pain as it all works together for good.  Suffering-glory is joined together as one death-resurrection reality.  One Cross, yet two opposites joined together as one. When we begin to see it that way, then we can rejoice on the front end of our problems, knowing God is bringing glory out of it all.

To the enlightened, all temptations and trials of any kind are only opportunities for faith in what God will do and is doing. Everything in the whole universe operates by opposites. Nothing exists without it’s opposite.  A battery in your car doesn’t work just from a positive charge.  It has to have a negative charge as well.  The atom is not just protons and neutrons, is it?  No, all atoms have opposite whirling electrons as well. All of life operates that way.  We human vessels also operate the same way.  We are non-strength (weakness) to manifest His power; we are non-righteous to manifest His righteousness; we are non-love, to manifest His love; we feel confused, to manifest His clarity, etc. etc. So, our human negative experiences are only His calling card for the adventure of faith to see what God in His glorious creativity, is up to.  It ends up being surprisingly fun if you can see it.