Last Sunday Pastor Lee led us to start considering the idea of persecution: the definition, aspects, and even benefits of it. Today I’d like to wrap those thoughts into the bigger picture known as tribulation.
Tribulation includes all sorts of problems, from undeserved (but necessary) persecution through the nudges of guidance (“Drop kick me, Jesus…”) to very deserved discipline. Passages that help me understand tribulation encourage me in my daily and often bumpy walk through the Christian life.
I’ve been thinking about 1 Corinthians 13 as it relates to 2 Timothy 3:10-12, which Sherry kindly read to us Sunday. (I have to say that 1 Corithinas 13 and Galatians 5 are among my favorite passages, and I tend to look at other passages in relation to these two.) Paul reminded Timothy, as he reminds us, to look at Paul’s life in terms of his “teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings”–a complex package, but not a plea for sympathy. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 renames and enlarges these characteristics in the context of “the most excellent way” and therefore desirable, even enduring and persevering.
So what can I get out of perseverance in any kind of tribulation? Mosey on over to Romans 5 for some insight. In the first five verses we see not only familiar words–faith, hope, suffering–but also some downright eye-opening ones: “rejoice, glory, poured-out love.” Woo hoo! How to get there? Verses three through five have poured a sidewalk. Suffering produces perseverance, which develops character, which leads to hope (better translated “confidence”), which will come through for us in God’s overflowing love.
If I’m willing to be patient and persevere under tribulation, it’s because I have faith that on the other end of the tribulation is the proven character, the proven confidence, the proven love. Sounds like 1 Corinthians 13:13!
Thank you Linda for taking us into ‘deeper waters.’
Lee
Beautifully written