“PROVIDED WE SUFFER!”

Romans 8:12-17                                     (ESV)

“12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the SPIRIT you put to death the deeds of the body, YOU WILL LIVE.

14 For all who are led by the SPIRIT of GOD are sons of GOD.

15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the SPIRIT of adoption as sons, by WHOM we cry, "ABBA! FATHER!"

16 The SPIRIT HIMSELF bears witness with our spirit that we are children of GOD 

17 and if children, then heirs-heirs of GOD and fellow heirs with CHRIST, “PROVIDED WE SUFFER” with HIM in order that we may also be glorified with HIM.”

It seems that everybody has a desire to be healthy, wealthy and wise.  However we don’t eat and exercise to remain healthy, we spend with reckless abandon to remain saddled with debt, and we refuse to search the correct Book (HOLY BIBLE) for wisdom!  On the other hand, it is difficult to find anyone with a desire to SUFFER!  When a person is terminally ill, their doctors usually say that they will make certain they DON’T SUFFER!  Most will do whatever is necessary to avoid SUFFERING, because hopefully they have a choice.  

In Acts 9:16 THE LORD says to Ananias “For I will show him how much he (Saul) must SUFFER for the sake of MY name."  The writer of the book of Romans, Apostle Paul (formerly Saul), then writes “The SPIRIT HIMSELF bears witness with our spirit that we are children of GOD, and if children, then heirs-heirs of GOD and fellow heirs with CHRIST, “PROVIDED WE SUFFER” with HIM in order that we may also be glorified with HIM.”  We can be “heirs of GOD and fellow heirs with CHRIST, “PROVIDED WE SUFFER” with HIM!  

Is Paul out of his mind when writing this letter to the Church of Rome?  “PROVIDED WE SUFFER” surely isn’t a recruiting tool to increase the army of GOD?  Yet Paul lets us know that our journey isn’t going to be a bed of roses as we reflect CHRIST in “this world”!  “The enemy” will cause obstacles to obstruct your path every chance he has, for CHRIST lives in you, and he is opposed to JESUS and everything good.  

History (HIS STORY) tells that the Apostle Paul was beheaded in Rome, where the church was located that the Epistle was written for.  In America, martyrdom hasn’t been an issue for many years.  But the time may be coming when the we have the opportunity to prove our love for the SAVIOR.  Will I have the boldness and conviction to live for HIM, die for HIM, SUFFER FOR HIM???  As the LAST DAYS are nearing, we will BE SAVED, “PROVIDED WE SUFFER” with JESUS!!!