December 17.
The Squeeze Of Suffering

1 Peter 5:10

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

But the God of all grace. The word grace has to do with the favor of God. Peter is saying that you are in his favor. That is great news. Being in Gods favor has lots of fringe benefits. He is the God of all grace meaning there must be measures of grace. You see one person who is suffering with sickness and there’s another person who has a mental problem. The person going through sickness has got sick grace for healing. And the person with the mind confused has got regulating grace. In other words, he says whatever you’re going through I’ve got grace to sustain your every need.

Who has called us unto his eternal glory. God has a higher calling on your life. Even though you are still sitting here on the runway He has already given you clearance for another destination. This is not my eternal home. This is just my temporary dwelling place. I’m on the runway and there is a clearance from the tower that it’s take off time already. He has called us unto his eternal glory. In other words, he’s moving me up from trash and from filth. From condemnation to commendation. From misery to mercy. From darkness to light. From death to life. He says, “I have already called you to a higher calling.”

When you have suffered a while. Now what good is suffering? Suffering actually brings the best out of us, but it also brings the mess out of us. You see you looking pretty in your pretty clothes and big smiles. But all of us have got some stuff in us that we can’t take to heaven. You’ve got to get rid of it before you catch the morning train. Suffering squeezes the stuff out of us that God doesn’t like. You won’t come to church all proud and haughty, but you will walk in and say “Hallelujah, his grace has brought me!”