Affliction and Glory
Week 10 | The Purgative Way
A seed cracks and crumbles, dying before it’s remade into a grain of wheat; a toddler screams and sobs, enduring the weaning process before he’s transformed into a boy; winter smothers and suppresses the fields before they’re reborn in spring; Jesus of Nazareth is mocked and murdered before he rises into something brighter and stronger and more alive than he was before.
Affliction and glory are woven into the whole fabric of our world and lives. “For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure” (2 Cor 4:17 NRSV).
The wild and precious truth of Scripture is this: affliction precedes glory. No, it’s more than that. It does not just precede it, it prepares us for it. But it’s even more than that, I think. Affliction does not just prepare us for glory, it produces it.
Room to Reflect
How does the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus shape your view of pain and transformation?
What kind of “glory” might God be cultivating in you through your current season?
Can you name a past experience where you only recognized the fruit of affliction in hindsight?
Thank you, Jonathan, for your writing. God bless you!