Romans 5:1-5
They are known as “the greatest generation,” those men and women who lived through the Great Depression and World War II, meeting the challenges and preserving our nation and our world during some of their darkest hours. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, young men enlisted in the armed forces by the hundreds of thousands. And young women stepped up by working as clerks, learning how to drive trucks or handling welding torches.
By the end of the war, there had been 12 million Americans serving in the armed forces. Of that number, over 291,000 died in battle. Another 144,000 died of other causes. Nearly 672,000 returned home wounded. As of 2022, there were only 167,284 World War II veterans still living, and they are dying at the rate of about 180 a day.
No one has paid greater tribute to this “greatest generation” than newsman and author Tom Brokaw. In his book, The Greatest Generation, Brokaw wrote these words:
At the end of the twentieth century the contributions of this generation would be in bold print in any review of this turbulent and earth-altering time. It may be historically premature to judge the greatness of a whole generation, but indisputably, there are common traits that cannot be denied. It is a generation that, by and large, made no demands of homage from those who followed and prospered economically, politically, and culturally because of its sacrifices. It is a generation of towering achievement and modest demeanor, a legacy of their formative years when they were participants in and witness to sacrifices of highest order. They know how many of the best of their generation didn’t make it to their early twenties, how many brilliant scientists, teachers, spiritual and business leaders, politicians and artists were lost in the ravages of the greatest war the world has ever seen.
The enduring contributions of this generation transcend gender. The world we know today was shaped not just on the front lines of combat. From the Great Depression forward, through the war and into the years of rebuilding and unparalleled progress on almost every front, women were essential to and leaders in the greatest national mobilization of resources and spirit the country has ever known. They were also distinctive in that they raised the place of their gender to new heights; they changed forever the perception and the reality of women in all the disciplines of American life.
Millions of men and women were involved in this tumultuous journey through adversity and achievement, despair and triumph. Certainly there were those who failed to measure up, but taken as a whole this generation did have a “rendezvous with destiny” that went well beyond the outsized expectations of President Roosevelt when he first issued that call to duty in 1936.
Whenever we reflect on the lives of this “greatest generation,” we might remember also the words of Paul in Romans chapter 5 about suffering, endurance, character, and hope. In this passage, we find truth that has sustained people through some of their worst days and darkest nights. People have found reasons for hope in spite of situations that would seem likely to breed only hopelessness and despair. What is it that enables people not only to survive, but to thrive in the midst of crisis? It comes from a sense of peace that is possible because of their faith in God and their conviction that Jesus Christ is with them.
Paul makes the astonishing claim that he boasts in his sufferings. Heaven knows, he was entitled! He himself had suffered in ways that we can only imagine. On five different occasions, Paul received whippings of 39 lashes. Three times he was beaten with rods. He was taken outside one town and stoned. He was shipwrecked three times, and once spent 24 hours in the open sea waiting to be rescued. He was constantly on the move, by land and by sea, and was in danger from bandits. Paul often went without sleep and food and had experienced both cold and hunger. When Paul talked about suffering, people listened; he knew what he was talking about.
But why would Paul say that he boasted in his suffering? Was it to brag about his stamina? No. Paul boasted in his suffering because of what that suffering produced in him by the grace of God. Suffering produced endurance; endurance produced character; and character produced hope. And Paul says that hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
None of us is immune to suffering. Christians, no less than anyone else, experience pressure, stress, sorrow, loneliness, injury, and illness. We grieve the deaths of people we love. Suffering is a part of life. Jesus told his disciples bluntly that in this world they would have troubles. But Jesus also said that he has overcome the world. God can use our suffering: God uses it to make us stronger, to make our faith stronger. Isobel Kuhn wrote, “God does not waste suffering.” As Paul said in another part of Romans, in all things God works for good. God doesn’t make all things good; but God can bring something good out of any and every situation.
One of the ways God works for good is by bringing endurance out of our suffering. The word used here for endurance does not mean to passively live through something, but to actively work to overcome it. It is the ability to continue on in the face of hard times. It means never giving up. Helen Keller once said, “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” History is full of stories of men and women who experienced adversities and overcame them. John Bunyon spent years of his life in debtors’ prison, but wrote the classic Christian novel, The Pilgrim’s Progress. Abraham Lincoln was born in abject poverty but became one of our nation’s greatest presidents. Beethoven lost his hearing but continued to compose beautiful music. Itzhak Perlman was paralyzed from the waist down at the age of four, but he is recognized as a world-renowned violinist. These people all proved that suffering can be overcome by endurance.
Endurance, Paul says, produces character. The Greek word here is the same word used for metal that passes through fire, and all impurities are burned away. While some people become bitter because of what life hands them, others become better by the grace of God. They face their trials and work their way through them. Kari Myers said, “Bad days are a test of character. They show how closely, or not so closely, we’re following the example of Christ.” As James Kennedy writes, “What really matters is what happens in us, not to us.”
Jim Valvano was a great college basketball coach. He took his North Carolina State team to the NCAA finals in 1983 and won. Some time later, he learned that he had cancer. At an ESPY awards banquet in 1993, he gave a speech after accepting the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. He said, “Today, I fight a different battle. You see, I have trouble walking and I have trouble standing for a long period of time. Cancer has taken away a lot of my physical abilities. Cancer is attacking and destroying my body, but what cancer cannot touch is my mind, my heart, and my soul. I have faith in God and hope that things might get better for me. But even if they don’t, I promise you this: I will never, ever give up. I will never, ever quit.” He went on to talk about his 1983 championship team: “I learned a great lesson from these guys. They amazed me. They did things I was not sure they could do because they absolutely refused to give up. That was the theme of our championship season. Never, ever give up. That’s the lesson I learned from them, and that’s the message I leave with you. Never give up. Never, ever give up.” Valvano became an inspiration to others, a man of true Christian character, in spite of his suffering, because was able to endure.
Finally, Paul wrote that character produces hope. Gib Martin wrote, “When we look back on the process through which God has brought us and realize that we are still in this process, we have a firm basis for hope. We know that just as he has brought us through the trials of the past, he will bring us through the trials of the future, and this will continue, because he loves us, until the very end when we will enjoy his presence for-ever.” Hope helps us hang on. Hope gives us a belief in the future. Hope can get us through anything. Christian author Henri Nouwen wrote in his book, With Open Hands, “Hope means to keep living amid desperation and to keep humming in the darkness. Hoping is knowing that there is love; it is trust in tomorrow; it is falling asleep and waking again when the sun rises. In the midst of a gale at sea, it is to discover land. In the eyes of another, it is to see that he understands you. As long as there is still hope, there will also be prayer. And God will be holding you in his hands.”
In his book, Life’s Toughest Battles, psychologist Julius Segal wrote about the 25,000 American soldiers who were held in Japanese POW camps during World War II. “Forced to exist under inhuman conditions, many of them died. Others, however, survived and eventually returned home. There was no reason to believe there was a difference in stamina in these two groups of soldiers. The survivors, however, were different in one major respect: They confidently expected to be released someday. As described by Robins Readers in Holding on to Hope, ‘They talked about the kinds of homes they would have, the jobs they would choose, and even described the kind of person they would marry. They drew pictures on the walls to illustrate their dreams.’”
There may never be another “greatest generation,” at least not like the last one. But we can become great in the way we face the challenges in our world. There is the work that needs to be done to protect the environment and make our planet sustainable. We know that there is poverty in our country and around the world, which can also involve violence, oppression, and abuse. There is the political dividedness and divisiveness that is so prevalent in our nation right now. There are so many needs right in our own community that we can help to address and meet.
We have the opportunity to prove ourselves to be a great generation, and the way we do that is to hang on to hope, a hope that proves itself by enduring suffering and developing character. We don’t have to throw up our hands in despair at the big issues around us. We can do something to change the world for the better, to live into our calling to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We can know that God is at work in and through us, and that, in time, all our hopes will be realized when God’s kingdom comes on this earth. So have hope. Have hope in yourselves. Have hope in the younger generations. And most of all, have hope in God. That hope will never disappoint us.
