No comparison

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. – Romans 8.18

Sometimes life can really stink. There are days like Alexander has in the children’s classic ‘Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day’ when it seems like nothing at all goes right. The author Judith Voirst gives us a taste – ‘“I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”

Job had a day like that. Remember Job chapter 1?

The problems is that sometimes it seems like we have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week, or month, or year, or decade, or life.

2009 was a year like that for our children. We discovered that our grandson AJ had an infantile cataract and needed eye surgery. Michelle lost a baby. Matt and Michelle were forced to leave Northern Ireland because of new visa regulations. Then in December we discovered that Michelle had leukaemia. In some ways it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year.

And that was minor compared to what some Christian families go through in the world today. Death happens. Christians are in jail for their faith. Persecution happens all over the world.

Paul knew what he was talking about. He was beaten, arrested, left for dead, shipwrecked, imprisoned, thrown out of cities, and more.

And yet he could write the words ‘I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed to us.’

So one day it will be more than worth it all. The glory that awaits more than makes up for what we are going through now.  The hope is there. We need to hold on.