Perspective
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18 NASB
Are not worthy to be compared – Paul suffered. The disciples suffered. Yeshua suffered. In fact, most of the great religious leaders, prophets, and teachers suffered. It really doesn’t matter if you’re Jewish, Christian, or something else. When someone stands up for God, challenging the cultural tendency to accommodate to the yetzer ha’ra, he or she might as well paint a target on their back. Slings and arrows inevitably follow. One might suggest that if your faith hasn’t had any significant bumps it might not be real faith at all.
Nevertheless, Paul’s suggestion that the present suffering isn’t even worthy of comparison to what we will experience when God’s glory is revealed isn’t much consolation when things are really bad. How many of us thank God for Paul’s insight when our finances collapse, when a child dies, when divorce tears apart the family, when a friend betrays us, when the doctor tells us we are terminally ill. The suffering list is long. It cares not for age, ethnicity, status, gender, or geography. Job got it right: “For man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). One of the consistent themes of ancient religions is the inevitability of suffering—and the indifference of the gods. Perhaps that’s why Paul’s statement is a little comforting. In the first century world, most gods could care less about the suffering of men and women. They actually contributed to human misery whenever men didn’t please them. Life for us was the constant attempt to reduce the divine threat. Theognis of Megara wrote:
“We struggle onward, ignorant and blind, For a result unknown and undesign’d; Avoiding seeming ills, misunderstood, Embracing evil as a seeming good.”[1]
“The best of all things for earthly men is not to be born and not to see the beams of the bright sun; but if born, then as quickly as possible to pass the gates of Hades, and to lie deep buried.”[2]
Paul’s letter to the Romans is set in this environment. It’s not just his personal suffering he has in mind. It is the ethos of the culture. Nothing good comes from living. As Koheleth noted, in the end we all rest under the dirt. But then there’s my friend in the Philippines, shot several times while serving in the military, intimately acquainted with the death of loved ones. He told me, “Every day above the ground is a good day.” Perhaps he understood Paul better than I do. Perhaps I’m so focused on those ethereal Western objectives like purpose, legacy, security and happiness that I fail to notice what it means to just be alive. How amazing it is to be “above the ground.” I don’t have any real idea about the coming glory. It will be wonderful, I’m sure, but the truth of the matter is that I can’t even begin to imagine it. All Paul tells me is that it will be worth all the struggles. I’m not going to speculate on the glory to come. I’m going to relish this day above the ground.
Topical Index: suffering, glory, Job 5:7, Theognis, Romans 8:18
[1] Theognis of Megara, Elegies, lines 137-139
[2] Ibid., lines 425-428.
THANK YOU NOTE: Thanks to each of you who sent me a birthday greeting. I really appreciated it. One of my greatest joys is having so many friends around the globe.
