It's Not All Good

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Rom. 8:28 NIV)

It’s not all good. Although God made everything all good, His good gift of free will allowed our ancestors to choose what was not all good, the knowledge of good and evil, from which come diseases, disasters, death, cruelty, wickedness, and lost innocence: an inherited inability to be ‘all good.’ Yet Paul reassures us that God is in the redemption business: for those who love Him and are called to His purposes, God is able to bring good out of even the evils we experience, because He has redeemed us through the evil experienced by His Son, Jesus. Such is the comfort of the Christian faith, that God is all good, even when all else is not.

Heavenly Father, thank You for redeeming us and promising to redeem even the evils we experience, in Christ Jesus, amen.”

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MIXED BLESSINGS

A visiting pastor was attending a men’s breakfast in Mississippi farm country.  

He asked one of the impressive older farmers to say grace that morning.  

After all were seated, the older farmer began------“Lord, I hate buttermilk.”

The Pastor opened one eye and wondered to himself where this was going. 

Then the farmer loudly proclaimed, “Lord, I hate lard.”

Now the Pastor was worried, but without missing a beat, the farmer prayed on, 

“And Lord, you know I don’t care much for raw white flour.”

Just as the Pastor was ready to stand and stop everything, the farmer continued, 

“But Lord, when you mix ‘em all together and bake ‘em up, I do love fresh biscuits.  

So, Lord, when things come up we don’t like, when life gets hard, 

when we just don’t understand what you are sayin' to us, 

we just need to relax and wait ‘till You are done mixin’, 

and probably it will be somethin' even better than biscuits. Amen."

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The Lord grant you patience this week! 

Pastor Kirk