Trinity Baptist Church

02/14/2024

01/20/2024

This.....I too must remember this!

An alcoholic friend of Philip Yancey once said to him:

“When I'm late to church, people turn around and stare at me with frowns of disapproval. I get the clear message that I'm not as responsible as they are. When I'm late to AA, the meeting comes to a halt and everyone jumps up to hug and welcome me. They realize that my lateness may be a sign that I almost didn't make it. When I show up, it proves that my desperate need for them won out over my desperate need for alcohol."

Lets make sure that people know how welcome they always are, that our table is really big and that there is always a place with their name on it at our table.

12/02/2023

Jesus is the reason for the season! 🎄✝️

11/24/2023

Amen

My grandmother used to interrupt our stories to correct our theology.

We often praise the Lord when He protects us from something or we barely scraped by in a tough situation. We say things like, “I almost had a car accident today, but the Lord protected me! Isn’t God good?!” or “I was afraid the diagnosis was going to be worse. God is good!” or “I had just enough money to pay that bill. God is so good!”

If you said something like that around my grandmother, she’d stop you mid-sentence and tell you God is good either way. While she certainly wasn’t chastising you for praising God (indeed she praised Him in every circumstance!), she wanted you to understand that while God was good in the moments we recognize Him as good, it is His very *nature* to be good. So, if we’d had the wreck, if the diagnosis had been worse, if the money hadn’t been enough—God would still be good because His goodness doesn’t evaporate in the midst of unresolved trials or adversity.

I’ve been thinking about this as I’ve studied the life and ministry of Paul in the book of Acts. Sometimes the Lord protected him from persecution as he traveled preaching Christ. But sometimes the Lord did not intervene, and Paul was brutally beaten by his opponents. I think that Paul, having experienced both scenarios many times, trusted that the peace of Christ could rule in his heart no matter what happened to him. He learned contentment in every circumstance, and he held on to the steady, unchanging nature of God.

We’re so quick to accuse God of being untrue to us when we face trials and suffering. But, like my grandmother believed, His goodness does not ebb and flow with our circumstances. If He intervenes and protects us, He is good. If He allows suffering and sorrow, He is good. In trials, He has the power to work good from it. It may not feel good to us at the time, but our God is especially good at redeeming bad things and working them for good. When we’re in the valley of the shadow, we must walk by faith and not sight. We must trust that He chases after us with His goodness and mercy, even if we can’t see it yet.

He's good either way.
And that means we can trust Him. ❤️