Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

—Romans 5:1-5 (TNIV)

What a strange thing for Paul to write! He has just announced the Good News of justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, by being made righteous in God’s sight through the blood of the Lamb, and now he talks about what we can expect next—suffering.

But not to worry, says Paul, because the Holy Spirit will use our suffering to make us be more like Christ. This, of course, requires a tremendous amount of trust on the believer’s part, the kind of trust that is impossible with any casual relationship. But Paul did not have a casual relationship with Jesus. Christ claimed him and Paul responded by spending his every waking hour getting to know this Lord who saved him death.

Paul gets it. Do you?