The Problem of Pain is a well known booklet written by C. S. Lewis making the argument for why a good God would allow pain in His universe. One aspect of his argument is our culture’s confusion between kindness and love. We prize kindness with the view that we would prefer a God with more of a benign “grandfatherly” kindness over a father’s disciplinary love. The difference is mainly one of outcome. The former is seen as just watching over us to keep us content and happy, the latter is focused on making us good using whatever means are necessary to achieve that benefit. Lewis in his chapter on God’s Divine Goodness puts it this way:
“When we want to be something other than the thing God wants us to be, we must be wanting what, in fact, will not make us happy.”
Given how much Peter deals with existing and anticipated suffering in his letters, approaching this with the right calculus is extremely important. I’ve labeled it using God’s new math.