Our Present Sufferings

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
-Romans 8:18-

Chronic pain. Unrelenting poverty. Sheer loneliness. Unremitting anxieties. What if this present suffering, whatever it may be, goes on for the rest of your life? How will you handle it? Should you continue to fight against every discomfort, unfairness, and heartache? Will it ever end?
We already know this life isn’t going to be easy, but heaven puts everything into perspective. Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
It may be hard to imagine, but once you are in heaven, your current sufferings won’t matter to you anymore. What will a mere 72 years of sorrow and pain look like after you have spent a million years in the presence of God Himself? Once you are with Him, you will have no more mourning. No kind of pain — not physical or emotional or spiritual or relational. No sickness at all. Not even a single tear. As Teresa of Avila said, “In the light of heaven, the worst sufferings on this earth will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.”
Pursuing Jesus happens best when we keep our eyes fixed on the end goal. The apostle Paul suffered much in his life, but he had this focused perspective: “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
I am not trying to provide a pat, “religious” answer to whatever issue looms largest in your life at the moment. Nor am I trying to convince you that your situation should feel easy in comparison to someone else’s staggering circumstances. It’s just that if you want to receive genuine hope and perseverance from God, the quickest way to be strengthened by His grace is to look straight into His glory.

Pursuing Today
Go ahead and identify your present suffering(s). Don’t discount it or compare it to others; just acknowledge what you are “straining” through now. Now read Revelation 21:1-5. Receive God’s “trustworthy and true” promise for those who trust in Him. Hold your present suffering up into the blinding, pain-alleviating, refining light of heaven. Can you see it anymore?