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Today's Pathway: Romans 12:12-13 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

In today's passage Paul is continuing his exhortations to believers. He begins by encouraging us to "rejoice in hope". "Rejoice" means to be cheerful or "calmly happy". In light of the fact that the next phrase in the verse mentions tribulation, Paul seems to be telling his readers that they need to be cheerful and calm regardless of the circumstances that they are facing. I Peter 4:12-13 states,

"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings."

"when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy."

Going along with this is the exhortation to be "patient in tribulation". "Patient" carries with it the additional idea of "resisting by holding one's ground". It is not a passive "putting up with" things, but an active, steadfast endurance even in the face of serious trouble. The root idea of "tribulation" is to be "crushed", or put under tremendous pressure. Obviously some of this pressure would be the temptation to give up. As stated above, we don't need to surrender. We can "count it all joy" (James 1:2) because we know Who our Father is and we know what He has prepared for us in eternity.

The thing that will help us accomplish this is found in the third phrase: "continuing instant in prayer". "Continuing instant" means to be diligent or earnest. If we are constantly communicating with the Lord it will help us to be able to stand in difficult times. Christ told His disciples that they should "pray and not faint" (Luke 18:1). He told Peter in Matthew 26:41 to

"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

In verse 13 Paul instructs believers to distribute to the necessity of saints. "Distributing" describes the sharing of one's possessions, with the implication of some kind of joint participation and mutual interest. The root word has the idea of a partnership. In other words, believers should be observant to the financial needs that their brothers in Christ have and be willing to actively participate in helping to solve them. This was common practice in the early church, for we read in Acts 4:34-35,

"Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need."

Finally, Paul encourages us to be given to hospitality. "Given to" means to "pursue after", and "hospitality" literally means "loving strangers". So we should be actively involved in meeting the needs of those we know in our church, but also making the effort to minister to other believers that we do not know as well. These may be folks from different ethnic or socio-economic backgrounds. They may be visitors, or people from out of town, or folks with itinerant ministries. John commended Gaius because

"thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers; Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church... We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth" (III John 5-8).

Today we have seen five things that Christians should be doing. How many of them are you accomplishing?