"But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved." Ephesus 2: 4-5 Good News Bible.
Every had a weekend where things were so right you wondered what's going to happen when the pendulum swings the other direction?
Yeah, that's right. I had one this weekend. Perfect? Probably not. But it was right up there with the best.
Great dinner Saturday night with the best boys on the planet and my wonderful oldest daughter. Great worship Sunday morning at both churches, I thought. Then a movie with my honey followed by frozen yogurt on the way home.
Obviously it doesn't take much to please me.
But I have a point here.
The beauty of the weekend was its simplicity. In Christ, with Christ, because of Christ all things work to the good. So when we have one of these weekends, or days, or hours, we need to do one thing: Praise Him.
But, in answer to one commenter from a piece I wrote last week, one also must Praise Him when one doesn't have those types of weekends, or days, or hours. For the same Christ who saved me, the same God whose mercy works in me while I am spiritually dad, is responsible for all my life.
In other words, when the beauty comes, it's Christ. When the pain surfaces, it's Christ allowing. But the pain is a temporal thing. The beauty lasts forever.
It's that simple in the short and in the long run.
If one can be as the apostle Paul, content with and without, one can takes these painful moments and ride them like a bucking bull at the county fair. I know it's hard. I know the pain makes for unbelief. I know the suffering is sometimes even tragic. But it truly is what it is. Does God want us to suffer? No, not at all. And clearly He can stop it on a dime. But there are more reasons and rhymes to life than stopping every ounce of pain and I believe we simply don't have all the answers. I know that sounds like unreasonable tripe at times. But I believe, truly believe, that God turns all things to the good of those who love him, even pain, even suffering, even tragedy.
If one doesn't believe, well, God's mercy extends even to that person.
On near-perfect weekends, all I can do is pray for those who don't know that.
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