“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” -Romans 5:3-5
So, not sure if you’ve notice, but I’ve been focusing on reading Romans this past month. I was reading through about the law God gave us, sin, the usual. Then, the scripture above caught my attention. Rejoice in suffering? Why in the world would anyone want to rejoice when they’re suffering? After all, we’re only human, so we should have the right to feel miserable when we’re going through a hard time, right? So, I thought about it and discussed it some more until it finally made sense to me.
We can rejoice in suffering because we know that it can help us develop character and endurance. When we’re going through a hard time, we will usually talk to God more, asking Him for help or guidance and later rejoice. So suffering produces character, but is this always a good thing? Depends on who you ask.
I found two guys who show a perfect example of suffering and character: Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.
Both Harry and Voldemort come from similar backgrounds. As children, both were raised by muggles who didn’t care for them. Neither Harry or Tom Riddle (a.k.a Voldemort) were accepted. Harry was always picked on by his cousin Dudley and his gang of friends. Tom was branded as being “odd” in the orphanage. Both were orphans and neither one was really shown love of any kind growing up. So with all of these similarities, shouldn’t they both have grown up to be the same kind of person? Why didn’t Harry, raised by his own relations who hated him, not grow up to be more like Voldemort? Why wasn’t Harry more bitter?
The way I see it, we can choose to either be like Harry or be like Voldemort in our times of suffering.
If you’re like Harry, you may have a more positive view on your situation. In your suffering, you remember that you have God on your side and rejoice in that. For if there we didn’t suffer once in a while, how would we rejoice God? You have collected a number of scars (whether on your heart or your forehead) from your experiences. You look at them, remembering your past situations. You see these scars as something you took away from an experience that helped to form the character that you now have.
If you’re like Voldemort, you may have a more negative view on your situation. Whatever you’ve been through, you have let it make you into an angry, bitter person. You would rather blame God for your misfortunes rather than seek Him and ask for the strength to get through it. You let your scars turn you into something you’re not.
Character building comes from suffering. Harry and Tom were two different people whose character outcome was based on how they chose to handle things. Tom had a miserable childhood. He was angry and vengeful against his father for abandoning him and his mother. People always saw him as weird, and it hurt. Tom lost hope and let his character be twisted into a dark and bitter person. Harry had a miserable childhood full of neglect and bullying, as well, and yet he didn’t let it twist him into something that he wasn’t.
“Hope does not disappoint.”-Romans 5:2
Sometimes spiritual growth means we have to suffer and struggle. I believe that God gives us these trials of suffering for a reason. He might not give them to us as a punishment, but more like a lesson. How we handle our time during the suffering proves to God what kind of person we are and how our characters develop through it. I know that I’ve been a Voldemort in many times of suffering. It’s caused be to have a negative view on many things in life. I let my scars turn me into someone I never used to be, and I don’t like it. At the same time, my scars have also helped me become the person I am today, which is a good thing. I just need to make those scars more in the shapes of lightening bolts rather than the Deatheater sign 😉
Geeks of the Gospel 