Present Struggles and Future Glory

The purpose of this blog entry is not to glorify myself but to show how my heart has been changed by God's continual love, grace, and mercy.

In college, I have yet to get a B on my report card, let alone a C. At the moment, I'm staring in the face of a big fat C in one of my classes. Such has caused great distress in my life over the course of the past few weeks. On the bright side, I currently have a B in the class. On the downside? I need a B on the final to keep my B from falling to a B-. Even as we speak, typing this blog up was preceded by anatomy reading and will be followed by more anatomy reading.

Recently, a friend of mine offered what many would think to get a sigh of relief: old exams. Our professor recycles old exam questions and over the course of 4 years, recycles a majority of the questions. My friend sent me two years worth. With those as a study aid, I'm pretty much guaranteed a B in the class. However, God has placed it upon my heart that such a thing would be a violation of academic integrity. Faced with the dilemma, I sat in front of my e-mail inbox for several minutes with my cursor over the "Delete" button. Get an easy B or do the right thing? By God's grace, I was able to do the right thing.

I found it interesting that I read Romans 8:18 today.
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

No matter how great our present struggles, what God has to offer is so much greater. As Paul wrote here in Romans, present issues aren't even comparable to what is ahead of us as believers. Getting a B in anatomy while doing things in a way that violates the character and nature of God cannot even be compared to getting a C and bringing a smile to God's face. By living and surrendering to the Lord, we live by His standards, His will, and for His glory. Even if that means pain, sacrifice, and ridicule on our parts, rest assured. There is nothing greater than the glory of our Creator. As it says in the beginning of Psalm 115, "Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory"