Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. Romans 8:18-19 (NIV)
Paul says, “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (8:14), so he’s talking about ordinary Christians. Your first reaction might be I don’t like the sound of this. If people knew who I really am, they wouldn’t like me. I don’t want to be revealed.
Maybe you feel that, at your core, you’re fundamentally rotten. That’s why you wouldn’t want your life to be revealed. That’s a natural reaction. After all, by nature we are all rotten at the core.
But is this true of a person in Christ? “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). There may be many rotten things in your life, but if you are in Christ, you are a new person, and one day what you really are in Jesus Christ will be revealed.
That’s why Paul says, “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (8:18). It’s not just that Christ’s glory will be revealed to us, it is that Christ’s glory will be revealed in us! When we see him, we will be like him.
The world doesn’t see your glory; it sees your flaws and failures. But the day is coming when who you are in Christ will be revealed. You will see it. All of heaven will rejoice in it! And Paul says your “present sufferings are not worth comparing” with this glory (8:18).
However hard your struggle against sin, whatever the pressure of following Christ—it’s nothing compared with the glory that will be revealed in you.
