Uphill...not fun

Today as I furiously pedaled my bike uphill I was reminded of something I learned while in Lebanon. Lebanon is pretty mountainous. And most beautiful sites were up on a mountain. Well there are two ways that we went up the mountain, walking and in a car. Either was was awful!!! If we walked, it was so burdensome and we complained the whole way. And in the car, it grunted and pushed the whole way up. And we had to turn off the ac so the car had enough power to make it.

That is when it hit me ( and it has occurred to me many more times since, like today) that we all want to be at the top of the hill/mountain, but no one wants to work for it. And this is more than just the physical hill, although it is true. In life, we want success without doing anything for it. We even expect it. But that isn't right. And although going downhill is easy, no one likes to be in the valley. There is no view there. I don't think I need to keep drawing out what I mean, although I will go into the spiritual part now:

Romans 8:16-17 talks about recieveing the promised glory of God through Jesus. And it is as beautiful thing. But there is a sort of catch and I would paraphrase, but Paul says it so well:

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.

"Provided we suffer with him." Yeah, we're heirs of the living God and co-heirs with his only Son, but we gotta suffer. This is the highest mountain. And it isn't easy. We don't just coast through. We gotta suffer. Why? "In order that we may also be glorified with him." That is our goal, and his promise to us: glorification. Paul continues to say that our current suffering is not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed. Our uphill climb is going to look like nothing compared to the glory that God will give us. The view from the top will prove to be worth it.

So if you are suffering or if life is just tough right now and you feel like you are getting somewhere, but there has to be an easier way, stay strong. God is going to pull you through b/c he said he would. He is faithful and the climb is worth it.