Page 012 - Idle Words Are Not Meaningless
*Verses from AMP
"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace [Who imparts all blessing and favor], Who has called you to His [own] eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen, and settle you" (Amp: 1 Peter 5:10).
Once we believe, that is, receive the Lord Jesus Christ, we are given God's eternal life through His divine Spirit. (John 3:6; 16) As wonderful as this is, it is not the end, but rather the beginning. God sees His newly re-
generated children as new born babies needing the proper growth, develop-ment, and training. His desire is that all would become full grown sons of God. (Romans 8:14; 1 Peter 1:3; Titus 2:11-12). A person’s actual physical age does not change this fact.
Unfortunately, just like children, we are often not so willing to eat and drink the healthy Word of God (1 Peter 2:2-3) and grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). So what is God to do? Since He has committed Himself to us, He will do everything possible to help us get what we need. This includes the school of hard knocks which we typically refer to as sufferings. Even if we have not done anything wrong, sufferings are quite useful in God's hand to help perfect, complete, or consummate His will in us (Hebrews 2:9-10). The Lord Jesus Himself was not exempt from this kind of dealing from the Father's hand.
This does not mean we look for suffering or inflict intentional pain upon ourselves. We do not need to help God out. We only need to learn the lessons God is trying to teach us. Otherwise, God may have to put us through the same life lesson numerous times. This could end up being painful indeed. Yet, if we become pliable clay for God to mold, we will be able to say as the Apostle Paul did in 2 Corinthians 12:10, "So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength).