By HAROLD STEINBRON
Scripture Reading: II Timothy 1:9-12
"Before the World began"; that's how long ago God scheduled my life,
salvation, and place in His glorious presence. Sometimes I'd worry and
fret about whether I was going to make it through to next weeks
pay-day! As I look back now over many years, to that concern about
lasting until pay-day, I wonder, did I really believe God had known me
before He made the world! I think not! It was a theory with me, I knew
the Bible stated it, but it had not been reckoned SO by me. Unbelief
must be a very serious insult to the One who planned by existence long
before my parents were born! My God was too small!
The person who truly lays hold of the Eternal God and truly believes
what these verses teach will truly thank God even when everything that
could go wrong does; and at the worst possible time---and then the
bottom falls out! The peace of God that only the God of peace can
bestow will bring an inner calm and freedom from turmoil that will be
apparent to those about us.
Verse 12 mentions suffering "these things". One would assume that God's
choice servant who wrote half our New Testament would live a
trouble-
free, leisurely life. Not So! "My Grace is sufficient for
thee", was God's answer to Paul's request for relief from a grievous
thorn in the flesh. God is apparently wanting to inform us that since
He has planned our Life and eternity from start to finish, we must not
shrink from hardship, bodily suffering, or rejection by our fellow man.
The holy calling is not unto ease, but unto faithfulness unto Him who
called us.
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