Verses 18-21 (9/15)

Let's take a closer look at some of the passage:

"18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." 

Paul did not think that the sufferings of his present time were much compared to the future glory in store from him. What were these sufferings? He gives a short account of a few of them in II Corinthians 11:

24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Plus, let's not forget the "thorn in the flesh" that he suffered from for years. If anyone had claim to suffer it was Paul, but I understood better than most the hope that lies in the revealing of our glorification. Verse 19 shows that we already are sons of God, but that our true nature has yet to be revealed. It is an "already but not yet" reality. The earth did not want to be cursed by God, but it was only because man chose to disobey that it was now corrupted. The weeds, earthquakes, tsunamis, and bloodshed that are a part of the world that we live in are not something that will continue forever. They are only here until man is physically redeemed. Man came from the dust (Genesis 2:7) and the dust of the Earth is tied to him.  The Lord will renew the whole Earth when he gives humans our new bodies.