Parenting by Design - October 14

Glorious Suffering

1 Peter 1:6-7: In this [hope] you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (NIV).

Because we know God's plan will lead us home to heaven, we can endure suffering along the way. In fact, if today's suffering is "achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Cor 4:17), we ought to be able to count suffering as a blessing instead of a curse. Nonbelievers do not have this perspective on suffering and must achieve their glory now, because their future is eternal suffering apart from God.

We don't know what it will be like in heaven, but we know that today's suffering is our training for an eternal future of ministry in the presence of the Father. Trials prepare us for that future—they are God's curriculum for eternity.

Treat your family's trials as opportunities to glorify the Father and as training for your future.