“…we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).
One of the spin-offs from the Star Wars series of movies is called The Mandalorian. He’s an elite bounty hunter who travels across the galaxy tracking down bad guys.
Many of these bounty hunters have armour made of a material called beskar. It is nearly invincible and is even able to withstand light saber strikes. A person named the Armourer forges this specific kind of armour under intense heat. Without the intensity, pressure and heat, it cannot become what it is intended to be.
Let me say that again: Without the intensity, pressure and heat, it cannot become what it is intended to be. As you can probably tell, I’m making a connect to people. It is often through difficulty and hardship—what I am here referring to metaphorically as “intensity, pressure and heat”—that we become stronger and wiser as followers of Christ.
To be sure, people can most certainly become stronger and wiser without going through hardship. However, after you’ve lived for a while, you start to see patterns. One of those patterns is that hardship can sometimes refine you. You become wiser and stronger out the other side of adversity.
In Romans 5, the apostle Paul highlights a progression. He says that suffering produces endurance, which produces character, which produces a hope which does not put us to shame. Why? Because “God’s love has been poured into your hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
As we go through difficulty, let’s cooperate with the work of God’s Spirit and the love that our heavenly Father has poured into our hearts. As that happens, may we grow stronger and wiser to face the future as the resilient hands and feet of Christ.
Notes:
-Bible quotes are from the ESV.
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