A Double Benefit

A Double Benefit

“But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” Rom. 6:22. Mighty things happen to a person when they are converted to God and torn out of the world and the power of Satan. When they cease from the manifest works of the flesh, they become servants of God—they serve the Almighty God! And we must serve Him with zeal and fervor, and present our members as instruments of righteousness for Him.

God has prepared good works beforehand for each one of us, that we should walk in them. And they are usually right at our feet. We typically have quite a few smaller things to do, and sometimes bigger ones as well. One indication of God’s will in our lives is that we experience joy and peace in our spirit when we do these works. But when we engage in these works, they do not make us great. Before long, various circumstances of life will come our way. God wants to work something with us and in us, in and through these works. He wants to educate us, He wants to transform us, He wants us to be sanctified.

We face many kinds of trials and tribulations, and find ourselves in difficult situations. We go through fire and hard treatment, and we realize that we are in the potter’s house. We are clay in His hand, and He does His work with us on the potter’s wheel. Oh, that we may then be yielding and pliable in His hand. Perhaps it costs us “sweat and tears”; it involves struggle and hardship. And we even experience God’s chastening in our lives; we find the deeds of the body and we can put them to death by the Spirit. But the Lord loves us, and He has eternity in view for us. He will make us to be people who are fit for eternity, and He is training us for our task in the Millennium and in eternity. We must persevere in faith and suffering under such circumstances, and despite all opposition press forward with power and carry out the work of the Lord so that it is accomplished—and in the midst of this, we must be sanctified in all these circumstances. This is a double benefit: The work of the Lord is carried out, and we are transformed.

And the Lord always turns the result of such works to the good. “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” Jas. 5:11.