Suffering Brings Glory
Basilea Schlink teaches that a believer's right attitude toward suffering and the cross leads to spiritual growth, comfort, and eternal glory with Christ.
In this devotional sermon, Basilea Schlink explores the profound spiritual significance of suffering and the cross in the believer’s life. She emphasizes that God’s loving hand governs all trials and that the right attitude toward suffering leads to comfort, growth, and eternal glory with Christ. Drawing from Romans 8:17, Schlink encourages believers to embrace their crosses with praise and thanksgiving, revealing how suffering prepares us for eternity and manifests God’s grace both now and forever.
Full Transcript
God lives and works today. His eyes look down upon each one of His children. Nothing in our lives is hidden to Him.
Nothing happens that He does not allow according to His wise fatherly will. God has an eternal goal for us. Listen to the following meditation by Basilea Schlink.
Almost nothing is more important than our attitude towards suffering, towards the cross in our lives. Why? It's our attitude towards the cross, if it's the right attitude, that will help us to bear our suffering more easily and to be comforted. In addition, our life in eternity hinges upon our attitude towards the cross and the suffering we must bear in this life.
For our attitude creates a heaven or a hell on earth. And where we live on earth will determine our eternal dwelling place too. It may also be that I've made every effort to escape from my suffering, even by becoming involved in serious sin.
However, none of our efforts can ever help us escape the difficulties and chastisements the Lord has put into our lives. For behind our difficulties is the hand of the living God, who is the judge and the ruler over the living and over the dead. It's utmost foolishness to try to push away the suffering He sends us, because He's love and only has our best interests at heart.
Therefore, the consequences of trying to escape suffering are very great. To suffer in the right way means to accept our cross, praising and giving thanks for it. God in His grace is chastening us and preparing us for eternity.
One day we must all face death in the judgment seat of God. However, in Romans 8, 17, we read that if we suffer with Christ, we will also share His glory. That's incomprehensible.
Crowns and thrones and glory are awaiting those who come out of tribulation, who have overcome. They're the ones who have learned the lessons of the cross and suffering. What grace God has poured out upon our lives through these trials.
From the very beginning, God planned that the cross and pain should bring us grace and glory. And because He is love, this grace and glory can be ours in eternity, and already here on earth, too. You have been listening to a program written by Basilea Schlink of the Little Land of Canaan.
To learn more about how God lives and works today, visit us at our website www.canaan.org. That's K-A-N-A-A-N.org. If you contact us, we would be happy to send you a free inspirational booklet. If you do not have access to the web, please write to God Lives and Works Today, 9849 North 40th Street, Phoenix, Arizona, 85028-4099. God bless you.
Sermon Outline
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I
- God’s sovereign control over suffering
- Nothing happens outside His fatherly will
- God’s eternal goal for believers
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II
- The importance of our attitude toward suffering
- Attitude shapes earthly and eternal destiny
- Wrong attitudes lead to sin and spiritual failure
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III
- Suffering as God’s loving chastening
- Accepting the cross with praise and thanks
- Preparation for eternity through trials
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IV
- Sharing Christ’s glory through suffering
- Crowns and glory await those who overcome
- God’s grace revealed through pain and the cross
Key Quotes
“Almost nothing is more important than our attitude towards suffering, towards the cross in our lives.” — Basilea Schlink
“For our attitude creates a heaven or a hell on earth.” — Basilea Schlink
“If we suffer with Christ, we will also share His glory.” — Basilea Schlink
Application Points
- Accept your trials as God’s loving discipline and respond with gratitude.
- Cultivate a godly attitude toward suffering to experience spiritual growth and comfort.
- Remember that enduring suffering with Christ leads to sharing in His eternal glory.