All the Time

Always we are tempted as believers to think that being believers gives us a pass on the hard times.  While it is not something we might say openly to other believers, if we have ever heard ourselves saying in our prayers that we deserve better treatment than the unbelieving pagan down the road, then maybe it really is true that we figure we should be exempt from some of the tough stuff of life.  In a small and insignificant way the letter to the church at Colassae enables us to hear the Apostle Paul saying, "Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner greets you..."  (Colossians 4:10)

 

This wonderful letter to the early church in which Paul speaks often of his struggles and suffering was written from a prison cell.  This early Christian with the strange name was a cellmate of the Apostle Paul.  The Apostle Paul was not writing from a comfortable place, but a dark prison which held back the light and sought to destroy the spirit.  Anyone who reads this letter as well as others soon discovers that faithfulness provides no exemption to dark times of trouble. 

 

The fact that our life seems to be lived out in a place not of our choosing does not mean that God has forsaken us.  We glibly say when life is coming up roses, when all our prayers are being answered, and when a healing brings health instead of death that God is good.  "God is good.  God is good, all the time," we say in those moments of rejoicing.  The truth is that God is good regardless of whether our circumstances are good or bad.   The Apostle Paul who lived with much trouble in his life was the one who also wrote, "give thanks in all circumstances..." (I Thessalonians 5:18) and "I have learned to be content with whatever I have..."  (Philippians 4:11)  What Paul knew and believed was that God really is good....all the time...even in times of dark trouble.