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One suggestion I have is to share your story with him. What was life like for you growing up, what questions did you want answers to, and how did you fall in love with Jesus? When we’re honest with kids about things we struggled with and give them a chance to share their struggles too, it’s easier for them to trust us when we have harder things to share.

Pastor Steve Bateman gives an important correction to the modern sentiment that being happy due to positive circumstances, including the welfare of loved ones, is somehow unspiritual. True, circumstances change, and our happiness should be grounded on Christ, who doesn’t change, but that doesn’t make it inappropriate to rejoice in favorable immediate circumstances.

In this clip from his message “An Eternal Perspective on Suffering, Loss, and Grief,” Randy reminds listeners of how little we know compared to our all-wise, all-knowing God.

In this clip from Randy’s message “An Eternal Perspective on Suffering, Loss, and Grief,” Randy and Steve Keels discuss how it is OK to ask God our why questions, as long as we are willing to listen to His answers.

Randy spoke with his close friend and pastor Steve Keels at his home church, Good Shepherd Community Church. They talked about Nanci’s passing and what it looks like to have an eternal perspective in the midst of suffering, loss, and grief.

Though we don’t know exactly when, we do know for sure that either by our deaths or by Christ’s return, our suffering will end. From before the beginning, God drew the line in eternity’s sand to say for His children, “This much and no more, then endless joy.”

The New Fight for Life is the kind of book that can lead us beyond shallow political slogans and stereotypes that fit on bumper stickers or Twitter but are out of place in intelligent and respectful dialogue. I believe God has raised up Ben Watson to be a voice for two interwoven causes that should be simultaneously embraced: prolife justice and racial justice.

At the end of our lives, when we look back, most of what seemed urgent will be long forgotten. What we will thank God for—or regret—is how we handled what was truly important.

God is the Greatest Good and the source of all lesser goods: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father” (James 1:17). Wayne Grudem says in Systematic Theology, “The goodness of God means that God is the final standard of good, and that all that God is and does is worthy of approval.”

EPM does believe God loves cheerful givers (2 Corinthians 9:7) and does provide for givers so that we can be generous and glorify Him (2 Corinthians 9:8, 11). However, we want to be careful not to encourage anyone to believe that giving in any way obligates God to bless us financially with a certain amount or lifestyle in return. 

God invites us to ask questions. He invites us to dig for answers in His Word and trust it over our experiences. He’s very patient and wants interactions with us based on our trust in Him. Asking “Why?” will not annoy Him, especially if you are willing to humbly accept that His answer to you may be similar to the answer Job received, which was essentially, “You’re not God, I AM.”

As is the case with fire, so it is with money: the greater a thing’s potential for good when used rightly, the greater its potential for harm when used wrongly. And money has great potential.

Perhaps you’ve heard someone say something like, “My faith is in God, not the Bible” or “Be careful you’re not worshipping the Bible or making an idol out of it.” 

To many of us, “hope” sounds wishful and tentative, but biblical hope means to anticipate with trust. We expect a sure thing, purchased on the cross, accomplished and promised by an all-knowing God. Scripture offers solid ground for our hope in Christ.