Hardships
As we continue in our study of Acts, I’d like to take a moment to look at a scripture from Romans. Paul, who we’re reading about in Acts, is the writer of the letter to the Romans, so we can glean some insights into what he’s doing and saying in Acts by looking at what he was saying to other churches.
When reading Romans 8:16-17 we typically focus on the fact that we are heirs with Jesus. As such, everything that Jesus inherits will also be ours. All the glory, all the majesty, the amazing riches and the streets of gold will all be ours because we are heirs with Christ. However, it is often overlooked that along with inheriting glory and riches along with Jesus, we also must inherit his trials and suffering.
This is the same message that Paul was preaching to the churches during his first missionary journey. We see in Acts 14:21-22 that Paul is “encouraging” the churches by telling them that they must face many hardships. This seems like anything but encouragement, but as we look throughout the Bible we can see other instances where this same idea is expressed.
James is one of my favorite books of the Bible. As the brother of Jesus and a patriarch of the church, he had many great things to say about the topic of trials and hardships in the beginning of his letter (James 1:2-3). As he explains, going through these trials and hardships helps to develop perseverance. Now, the word here translated as “perseverance” is translated differently in different Bible translations. Some say perseverance, some say endurance, while others say patience. This is typically an indication that the English words we’re using aren’t quite satisfactory to get across the proper meaning of the original Greek word. The word in Greek is hypomonē and it actually means all three of these words, perseverance, endurance and patience. It’s the idea of all three of these words together. It’s not merely the idea of endurance, being able to take on trials and hardships without breaking. It’s not just the idea of perseverance, having the will and fortitude to keep going. It’s all three, having the patience to wait it out, having the perseverance to keep pushing forward, and having the endurance to hold strong without breaking. But still, it’s more than that.
In the early centuries of Christianity, Christians were being persecuted, tortured and martyred for their faith. However, the thing that astonished those that were persecuting them was not that they held to their faith despite the torture and death. It was not how well they endured while being tortured, but it was how they did it. There are stories of men and women who are in the process of being burned alive, and all the while they’re smiling and singing to their Lord. When asked why they were singing they replied, “I saw the glory of God and was glad.” These people weren’t crazy. They simply understood what it was that James and Paul were writing about and teaching (James 1:4). These trials and hardships, they’re the pain that we must endure in order to reach our end goal. We do it, not so that we may learn to endure more; not so that we might become more patient or learn perseverance, but we do it that we might become more mature and complete, not lacking anything. God is honing us and shaping us into the perfect image of Christ, and it is through trials and hardships that he does this.
This is what James is saying here, and that’s why Paul was encouraging people telling them, you’re going to face hardships. You’re going to run into trials, but be thankful, consider it pure joy, because it’s training to make you stronger, to help you to better persevere, to better endure, to be more patient so that you can endure the trials and hardships that are to come that are a part of your inheritance, “provided we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him.” That’s the whole reason for these trials and hardships. Not so that we may endure more hardships, but so that we might be made mature and perfect just as God intended us to be.