“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:5 (NIV)
Paul points out that we can rejoice in spite of our suffering. We can still praise God in the midst of the storm. Our suffering produces endurance, a patience we would not have apart from it. This endurance produces character within us, which God deeply desires. And this character produces hope, bringing our focus back to God.
Our hope does not put us to shame because God’s love, which is so much deeper, wider, and stronger than our love, has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also a constant reminder to the believer, the first installment of everything God has promised His children. The evidence of God at work within us gives us confidence that everything God has promised to us is going to be delivered to us.
In 2 Corinthians 1:21–22, Paul says we’re able to stand firm for Christ through God’s enablement, the Holy Spirit. We’ve been commissioned by God and identified as His own children because God put this Holy Spirit in our hearts. Ephesians 1:13–14 says the Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that the inheritance God promised, that Jesus purchased for us, will be fulfilled. Our ultimate inheritance is eternal life with God. Just like the Holy Spirit was promised and poured out at Pentecost, we can trust that all of God’s other promises will be fulfilled to His people.
Because our hope is secure in eternity through what we know God has done for us today, we can praise God in the midst of our suffering. God’s character within us gives us hope and constantly points us back to Him. God’s love is poured into us to be spread abroad by us through the Holy Spirit, empowering all of us. That’s what our hope is for: to be loved by God, love others like God, and love God in return. Spreading God’s love allows the unbeliever to receive the same hope we’ve seen God produce in us.