I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:18

Have you heard the phrase “every now and then?”  Bible teacher Beth Moore uses it to describe the way that the here and now in the life of a follower of Jesus is inextricably linked to then–the future that is to come.  We so often are mired in what the Bible book of Romans refers to as our “present sufferings”. (Romans 8:18) Now, we experience loss, chronic illness, injustice and betrayal; our suffering can be so searing that eternal life seems far away, unreal and perhaps irrelevant.  But Scripture says that the reverse is true!

What we suffer now is nothing, nothing, compared to the glory God will reveal to us later, says Romans 8:18. “All our sufferings will be incomparably upstaged by the glory that God is going to reveal to us,”[1] Moore explains. Glory is something we may not be able to grasp, because Scripture says that we can’t see things clearly in the now of this life. (I Corinthians 13:12) The pictures of God’s glory that we do have are instances of such awesomeness that humans instantly worship in admiration and wonder.  This glory is the kind of thing that makes us completely forget the pain we experienced, inspiring the Apostle Paul to even call them “light and momentary troubles achieving for us eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Writer C.S. Lewis described our now, as living in the Shadowlands. Follower of Jesus, never forget that your every now is connected to glory waiting then!

 

Resource reading: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

[1] Every Now and Then. Perf. Beth Moore. YouTube. YouTube, 16 July 2021. Web. 28 July 2021.