"Beyond the Pain" - Romans 5:3-5

"Beyond the Pain" Rom. 5:3-5
Hi, I'm Crawford Loritts with a Legacy Moment.
Some years ago I had to grow through some pretty major work on my teeth. I had braces and oral surgery. This all took place over a three-year period of time, and I have to tell you that during that period I was constantly either at the dentist office or the orthodontist. You have to know that I would rather bungee jump off the edge of the Grand Canyon than go to the dentist. What kept me going? It’s simple. I needed to have the work done, and I was convinced that it was worth it.
I discovered a principle in life. If you focus on what you’re going through, chances are you’ll never get through. Another way of putting it for us as Christians is that God uses hard difficult times; the difficult processes in life to produce Christ-like character in us. We’re reminded of this in Romans chapter 5, verses 3 through 5. Listen to these words. "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
Do you know the key word in those three verses? It’s the word knowing. We exalt in the process because we know what’s going to take place. We are assured that this is headed somewhere. This is going someplace, and when we get through this we’re going to look more like the Savior than we do ourselves.
Here’s what I want you to remember today. It’s amazing what you can put up with when you know there’s a good ending. Hey, get back in that divine Dentist’s chair, and let Him finish the job. You’ll have a more beautiful smile!