Therefore, since we
have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in
which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in
our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance,
character; and character, hope. And hope
does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans
5:1-5
Why do we suffer? Why must we endure pain even when
those around us are seemingly at peace? I looked to one of my very early
devotions dealing with suffering. The story revolves around one
of Major League Baseball's most memorable moments known as "The Shot
Heard Round the World." Bobby Thompson, a New
York (now known as San Francisco) Giant hit a home run against Ralph
Branca and his Brooklyn (now Los Angeles) Dodgers in the bottom of
the 9th inning to win the 1951 National League pennant
playoff. Below are Branca’s comments describing the aftermath of
this historic home run:
I drove home that
night. Took Brooklyn with Ann (his wife), and you know. It was a
long lonely ride, and she started to cry because we were going to get married
in 17 days. When I got home, my mother and father of course was
disappointed, and I think they bled for me. My mother got a couple of
phone calls. "Teach your son how to pitch," you know, and
they'd hang up. And that's really vicious. Brothers and sisters
(heard) at work at the time, "Ah, your brother stinks." You
know, "Your brother lost the game." Ann going to a gas
station, and giving her credit card. And guy says, "Ay, your
husband threw the home run pitch, right?" Shouldn't have to take
that nonsense.
My cousin was a dean of
Campus Ministries at Fordham, and I said, "Why me?" And
you know I was always in shape. I didn't drink or smoke,
and baseball was my love. Why me? And he gave the Jesuit
answer. He said, "God chose you, because he knew your faith would
be strong enough to bear this cross."
We all should aspire to have a faith like that; a faith that
even in the most trying of circumstances says as Joshua once said, “as for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15b - NKJV) Paul’s message of hope and glory in the midst
of our suffering reminds us that we have the final victory of eternal life with
Jesus Christ, and there is a purpose for everything in God’s plan. What can you learn from your most recent
failure? How will you maintain hope in
the midst of suffering? My prayer is
that though we may start at suffering, we end at hope. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment