Most people in Australia have been blessed with the opportunity to travel. Some people’s travels might be within the state in which they live, or they might explore other parts of our beautiful country, or, in recent decades, international travel has given people the chance to travel to parts of the world that many of our parents only read about in books.
When you have the opportunity to travel, how do you go with the journey? Some people love being on the road and embrace everything that goes with travelling from one place to another. For others, though, the journey can be difficult, especially if it is over a long distance or for an extended time. We might want to do something other than sit in the seat of a car or plane, to go for a walk and stretch our legs, or have some time and space for ourselves. When our journey gets difficult, or we are tired or weary of our travels, one thing that can help is knowing that reaching our destination will make the journey worthwhile.
As the Apostle Paul travelled on his three missionary journeys, he knew what it was like to suffer. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 he talks about the times he had been beaten, whipped, and shipwrecked, when he was hungry, thirsty and without clothes. He suffered all this for the sake of the gospel, as he brought the good news of Jesus to people who hadn’t heard its message of freedom, forgiveness and new life through faith in Christ. Paul willingly suffered for his faith because he wanted to build God’s people up in their faith in Jesus, strengthening them in their own times of suffering, and equipping them for their roles in God’s mission to redeem, restore and renew all things through Jesus.
In Romans 8:17, Paul writes that this suffering is the path to sharing in Jesus’ resurrection glory. Paul has been talking about the privilege we have as God’s adopted children and heirs. A vital part of our identity, the way we see ourselves and each other, is as God’s children whom he loves and with whom his is pleased because of Christ living in us through faith. He then continues by writing that ‘if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering’ (v17 NLT).
There are obvious differences between the suffering of Christ and the discomfort we might experience on an interstate drive or an international flight. However, if we think about suffering as a part of the journey towards a better destination, we might be able to identify with Paul’s words. Paul writes, ‘what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory that he will reveal to us later’ (v18 NLT). Just as the destination we are traveling to can help us when our journeys get difficult, Paul encourages us when we suffer in our lives as Christians by telling us that the glory we will receive when we reach our eternal destination will make our suffering worthwhile. When we keep our eyes on our destination, eternity in God’s full glory, we can find what we need to keep traveling in this world, even when we suffer.
This suffering can take various forms. For example, just as Paul suffered for the sake of the gospel in his missionary journeys, when we dedicate ourselves to following Jesus and bringing the good news of Jesus to the people of our time and place, we might also be called to suffer for Christ’s sake.
We can also suffer with Jesus as we learn to love others in the way Jesus loved us. This kind of love means doing what is good for others, not just ourselves (1 Cor 10:24; Philippians 2:3,4). It will cost us, just as it cost him, which means we will suffer, just as Christ suffered.
A third way we can understand suffering is the trials, challenges and difficulties of everyday life. We all experience suffering at different times and in different ways in our lives, from relatively minor struggles to more serious, such as the pain of losing someone we love in tragic circumstances or facing a terminal illness, and everything in between. Part of living in a world corrupted by sin is that suffering of some sort is part of our daily existence.
However we might experience suffering, Paul wants us to raise our eyes from our journey to our destination when he writes, ‘what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal in us later’ (v18 NLT)! When we look ahead to our destination rather than just focussing on our problems, challenges, difficulties, or pain we might be going through here and now, we can see our suffering from a new perspective. It will not last forever and it does not define us. This isn’t about trying to escape or minimize our suffering. Instead, we can trust that Jesus suffered with us and for us, that God’s grace and love brought his Son through his suffering and death to resurrection glory, and he will do the same for us!
This faith gives us hope in the middle of our suffering. The glory that will be revealed in us as God’s children in eternity gives us something better to look forward to. Suffering can be difficult because it can look so overwhelming that we can’t see through it to anything better. In the resurrection of Jesus we can see our way through our suffering to our destination. The cramped conditions in the car as we drive across the country or in the cabin of the long-haul international flight is not all there is. It is the journey to a much better destination. In a similar way, this life is the journey to our eternal destination of life in glory. Paul writes that in eager hope all creation ‘looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay’ (v21 NLT). Paul also writes, ‘we, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us’ (v23b). Like a person sitting in the cabin of an international flight looking forward to what they will experience when they arrive at their destination, we can find what we need for our journey through this life in the hope that the destination we have through faith in Jesus is ‘for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering’ (v23a). One day, by God’s grace, we will reach our destination where Christ has removed all causes of suffering in the world, where everything that is wrong is made right again, and we share in the glory of Christ’s victory over sin and death forever.
We can thank God for the opportunities he gives us to travel and all the blessings we receive through our travels, both near and far. We can also thank God that, as we journey through life in this world, he is with us in our suffering through Jesus who suffered for us and with us, and he gives us a destination of eternity with him in glory to look forward to. As we continue our earthly journey together, God fill us with the hope of his glory, so we can bring his hope into the lives of the people around us who are suffering in their journeys too.
More to think about or discuss:
- What is the longest trip you have made? Did you enjoy travelling to your destination or was it hard? What helped you in your journey so you could reach your destination?
- What is making your journey through life difficult or challenging? In what ways have you experienced suffering in the past or at the present time?
- How might keeping a focus on our destination of eternal glory as God’s children help us with our journeys through this life? How can it help you find hope in your suffering?
Pastor Eugene Online 
Leave a comment