Thlipis

The Greek word, thlipis, is the word used for tribulation, anguish, affliction, trouble, burden or the like. It's like the squeezing of the olive for oil or the grape for juice.  But personally, I prefer not to be squeezed.  I don't like it.  It doesn't feel good.  Such American sentiment!  Yes, I'm soft and spoiled.  I've come to know that more than ever in my older age.  As I look back on the past and see people who went through much tribulation to secure my present freedoms, I am ashamed!

And as a believer in Jesus Christ, seeing what He secured for me at a high cost, gives me more cause for shame.  As believers, we should find joy in our tribulations because they contribute to present blessing and ultimate glory.  Our joy ultimately comes from the certain hope of the glory of God.  And our joy is always, ever in Christ, not circumstances.

When we trust in God's goodness, faithfulness and provision, He fills us with all joy and peace in believing.  To live in anguish over the past, anxiety concerning the present or apprehension about the future is to fail to appropriate that peace.  God has forgiven the past, provided for the present and guaranteed the future, leaving nothing to legitimately disrupt the believer's peace.

Salvation is anchored in the past because God made peace with God for all those who trust in Him.  (Romans 5:1)  It is anchored in the present because by Christ's continual intercession, every believer now stands securely in God's grace.  (Romans 5:2)  And salvation is anchored in the future because God gives all His children the unchangeable promise that one day they will be clothed with the glory of His own Son.  (Romans 5:2-5)

How can the believer continue to live in anxiety with that hope?  And why would the unbeliever continue on the hopeless path to hell when, while he still breathes the breath of life, he could bow in reverential awe to the God of all Creation and be saved by the power of the Spirit through the blood of Jesus Christ?  Let our squeezing be done by God and for His glory,  and let us rest in His sovereign plan.

[Most of the above was taken from John MacArthur's book, Saved Without A Doubt and his commentary on the book of John.]