“Rejoice in our sufferings”? I may be able to endure suffering, but it is hard to be joyful about pain and injustice. What strikes me is that this is not a command, but a response: “we rejoice in our sufferings.” Perhaps I need to stop assuming I can’t, and ask, “how did they?”

The big answer is at the end: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” “Has been” means it has already happened; it is already in place. They aren’t expected to muster it, but receive it. What happens when they do? They find their suffering is not for nothing, and in the midst is producing endurance, which builds character, which forms a hope that does not put them to shame.

We refuse to rejoice in suffering because we believe that suffering is bad and to be eliminated. In reality, suffering is the very place in which hope is forged, because it forces us to die to our assumptions, our plans, our understanding, and our lesser hopes, enduring beyond our current capacity and becoming something more accurate to who God created us to be. In this maturing form, we realize how little we understand and — amazingly — that a true hope does exist for us, today.

It all begins with receiving the Love and Spirit that has already been offered to us.