Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into the grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character, and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Paul is giving us some difficult concepts in these verses. He is telling us that the Christian life is a two-sided thing. We are both complete in Christ meaning we are accepted and secure in him, from the moment we are born again, but we are always growing in Christ, becoming more like him through the trials and tribulations of life. My Bible commentary says it this way: “We enjoy the status of Kings and the duties of slaves. We feel both the presence of Christ and the pressure of sin.”

We see in verses 3 and 4 the process by which we are being perfected.
We learn to rejoice in suffering, knowing that because of it, we gain perseverance, and because of perseverance we gain, character, and through the character, we gain hope. Landing us in this; “hope does not disappoint,” Why does it not disappoint because, “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”

We are under construction, with the goal being that day by day we will look, talk, and act more like our Savior Jesus Christ. For early Christians suffering was the rule, not the exception. Today there are Christians all over the world who live under constant suffering, torture, and some death. Nowadays it seems most Christians are seen as the enemy and have some types of persecution just for being a believer. When we disagree with the world, the woke folks and the political agendas being thrown at us, they say we are haters, yet we know we hate sin, and pray for those who are blinded by it. We also know that none of us are without sin. The difference between us and them is we have repented from our sins, accepted God’s gift of salvation, and now are citizens of heaven. We have been forgiven, and stand before God clean.

We don’t rejoice in suffering because we enjoy pain or hardships, but because we know that God is with us in our suffering. He is working His plan out in our lives, and He is faithful, and we can trust that these things we go through are being used for our perfecting. Suffering builds our character. We develop perseverance as we go through the many rivers and valleys of life. God wastes nothing. Not one hard moment in your life has been wasted. You may not see what good God has brought from it on this side of heaven, but we can believe that if He said he brings good, it is a done deal. His word is truth!

So, as you go through life, your character, perseverance, and strength are being built up, and you can know that you are secure in your acceptance as a child of God in His Kingdom. You are already royalty, and you wear white robes and have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. This two-sided walk we take on this earth as we are passing through can take the stuffing out of us, ( trust me when I say I have experienced it more times than I like,) and it can sometimes cause our faith to shake, but it cannot rob us of the finished work of Christ in our lives. God knows when we are low on our faith meter, but He does not abandon us or even shame us for it, He knows who we are and how we are made. It was His hand that did the forming, and it is His hands that are doing the perfecting.

Square your shoulders mighty warrior, one day this life and all the ups and downs, hurts, and trouble will end, and you will stand face to face with your Lord and Savior, your faith will be sight, and all of it will have been well worth it! He knows we struggle. He sees our fears, our tears, our little faith, and He says come to me, let me give you peace, rest, strength, and help; let me make something far greater out of you and in you.

People this world is not our home, one day either in death or when he returns for His bride we will see him, all this hard will pass away in a moment in the twinkling of, an eye. What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see when I look upon His face the One who saved me by His grace when He takes me by the hand and leads me to the promised land, what a day, glorious day that will be. COME, JESUS COME!