Remember those old Fram oil filter TV commercials? “You can pay me now or you can pay me later”? Something tells me that it is best to stand before the Judge with an account stamped “Paid in full”. I’ll grant you that it is not the same and not as easy, but the principle remains the same. This is but one way in which we shall hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Does that entail suffering? Yes. A lot of suffering? Probably, but we have the great Saints as our role models. Many of them suffered greatly, died young and praised God for having tested them. Being rather slow on the uptake, only recently have I tried, not only to love God, but to enjoy suffering out of that love of Him.
This is completely counter-intuitive, but we have the parable of Lazarus and the rich man to buoy our spirits:
Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Laz′arus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.’
So, better to pay Him now than to pay later. Suffering produces endurance so that me might run the race as to win:
Colossians 1:11-12 " May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Endurance - from endure. Patience - from to suffer without complaint. We know that this life is short and that there is absolutely nothing we can do as finite beings in time, so as to merit an infinite reward of joy. God’s love and mercy fill the gaps where and when we fail.
My favorite OT verse is from Vulgate-based translations of Tobit, in which the Archangel Raphael tells Tobit and Tobias:
“Because you found favor with God, it was necessary that your faith should be tested”
- Tobit 12:13 Catholic Living Bible
