1) Romans 5:3 tells us that we can rejoice when we run into problems. I’ve met many Christians on this journey, but not too many of them rejoice when they encounter problems. Yet, these are the opportunities to see God at work. Most people seem to prefer not having problems at all. That sounds great, but it’s not the right attitude. Remember, this world has its challenges.

2) The reason that encountering problems is an opportunity for rejoicing is because these situations create endurance in us. Stated another way, problems teach us to prevail. There’s not a lot of prevailing required when there’s nothing to overcome.

3) Additionally, because we all claim that we want to be like Jesus, learning to endure and overcome is a part of our character development. The character that is specifically like Jesus. I think too many of us want to be transformed into a Jesus-like figure by eating a magic bean. That’s not really being transformed into the image of Jesus. Transformation comes glory by glory, or victory by victory, as the scripture teaches.

4) The rest of the formula helps us understand that the development of our character to be more like Jesus teaches us to have confident expectation, a hope for what is to come. This will be glorifying to the Lord and result in outcomes that will turn out for good according to His promises.

5) Romans 5:5 opens with this important note, one that we cannot afford to miss. It simply says, “We know how dearly God loves us.” Here is yet another challenge. Many of us know it. We know that God loves us, but we’ve tucked that away somewhere inside of our brain, in some compartment that we don’t visit very often. Therefore, it becomes less and less of a reality. The process the Lord allows us to go through helps us to pull it out of that box in our heart and mind, and realize the power of that truth.