Not worth comparing
The glory outweighs it
Paul, no stranger to suffering, makes a calculation about the believer's pain and glory: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. He places his sufferings on one side of the scale and the coming glory on the other, and finds them so unequal that they are not even worth comparing. The glory does not merely outweigh the suffering; it makes the suffering seem light by comparison.
Notice the word consider. This is not a denial of suffering or a pretense that it does not hurt; Paul knew real and severe suffering. It is a deliberate reckoning, a considered judgment that weighs the present pain against the future glory and concludes that the two are simply not in the same category. The sufferings are real, but the glory is so vast that comparison fails.
This is the perspective that sustains the pilgrim through the hard final stretches. Our sufferings are heavy and real, and Paul does not minimize them — but set against the glory to be revealed, even at their worst they are light and momentary. The whole creation, he goes on, waits eagerly for that glory, and so do we. When suffering feels unbearable, Paul invites us to do the math of faith: to weigh it, honestly, against the glory to come, and to find that what awaits so far outweighs what we endure that the two cannot even be compared.
“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.”
— Paul, to the church at Rome — Romans 8:18 (WEB)
Weigh your present sufferings against the coming glory — and find, with Paul, that what awaits so outweighs what you endure that the two cannot even be compared.
“For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”
When suffering presses, it fills our whole horizon and seems to outweigh everything. The interior work is Paul's deliberate reckoning — not denying that suffering hurts, but weighing it honestly against the glory to be revealed and concluding that comparison fails — so that our real and heavy sufferings are seen, against the coming glory, as light and momentary, sustaining us through the hard final stretches.
This week, when suffering feels unbearable, do the math of faith: deliberately weigh the present pain against the glory to be revealed, naming that pain honestly while fixing your reckoning on the glory that so far outweighs it.
When pain is heavy it floods the whole horizon, and despair insists the suffering is the only real thing while the coming glory thins into wishful thinking. But faith does the math honestly — it weighs the real weight of present sorrow against the glory to be revealed and finds it light by comparison, and that reckoning carries the pilgrim through the very pain meant to crush him.
Paul, who suffered as much as anyone, makes a deliberate calculation: the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. He weighs present pain against future glory and finds them so unequal they are not even in the same category. The glory does not merely outweigh the suffering; it makes it seem light by comparison.
The key word is consider — a reckoning, not a denial. Paul does not pretend suffering does not hurt; he knew severe and real pain. He weighs it honestly against the coming glory and concludes that comparison simply fails. This is the perspective that sustains the pilgrim through the hard final stretches. Our sufferings are heavy and real, and they are not to be minimized — but set against the glory to be revealed, even at their worst they prove light and momentary. When suffering feels unbearable, do the math of faith: weigh it against the glory to come, and find that what awaits so outweighs what you endure that the two cannot be compared.
- Does my present suffering fill the whole horizon and seem to outweigh everything?
- Can I do Paul's reckoning, weighing it against the coming glory?
- What awaits that so outweighs what I now endure?
Lord, my suffering fills my whole horizon and seems to outweigh everything. Teach me Paul's reckoning: that the sufferings of now are not worth comparing with the glory to be revealed. Let me weigh my real pain against that glory, and be sustained by what so far outweighs it. Amen.