Never trade what you don’t know for what you do know.
Chuck Smith
In sadness, we may find ourselves confronted loudly by the realities of what we are feeling and so overwhelmed by that grief it is possible we may grasp onto doubt and fear and trade that for what God has shown us to be true.
I have wondered at it all in my own times of great sorrow, in deep pain, in loss so hurtful and heavy. In my grief, I cried out, and God answered.
He did so in His Word, He did so by the testimony of those in my life, He answered by the Holy Spirit in me, and He answered as I looked to the realities in the World that are undeniable…
…that there is a Creator.
He has an order.
He has a plan.
What He has done in the past is undeniable, and therefore I can trust in Him for the future.
I cannot urge you more plainly and with all sincerity: attend a church that teaches the Word of God. Period. No apologies.
Read that again and go back to the first word: “attend”
It’s not enough that you used to attend or attend when your schedule allows. Attend now. Attend this week. Attend in person.
Make it a priority and stop making excuses for why you can’t give God one hour a week to be in community with Him and His people. Humble yourself and get to church.
And then – hear my heart – You must have sound teaching, a community that lifts up the Word of God, and a church that is fierce in its commitment to the truth.
Sorrow will come. Sadness will find you. Grief, and loss, and questions, will come from within or from others, and you must, and you can be equipped now so you have a storehouse from which to draw in those times.
David said,
I trusted in the Lord when I said,
Psalm 116:10-11
“I am greatly afflicted”;
in my alarm I said,
“Everyone is a liar.”
What shall I return to the Lord
for all his goodness to me?
Do you see how much anguish he was in? Do you hear the doubt and fear and seeing the lies around him? in the middle – the MIDDLE – of his affliction and questioning he was still able to trust even as I cried, “I am in so much pain!” He sees that he’s surrounded by lies and liars and yet he sees the Lord and remembers His goodness. This is exactly what you and I can do in our anguish – listen:
I will lift up the cup of salvation
Psalm 116:13-14
and call on the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
He will acknowledge the truth of what he has known and vows to keep living in God’s way and to live his life as a testimony and in the testimony of the God’s people.
Run from a church that idolizes culture, bows in any way to the woke agenda, elevates politics and social justice causes over God’s Word.
If your church closed its doors and whimpered in false humility as it bowed to government mandates during Covid while wagging self-righteous fingers and chiding others that wearing a mask was proof of loving Jesus…Get. Out.
Leave the church that cushions the blow of truth when it could possibly hurt your feelings or make it uncomfortable for you.
Flee the false church that waves a rainbow flag and meets under any other banner than that of our Lord.
Get out of the church that doses out little droplets of the gospel in scoops of woke ideology.
Run to a church that boldly preaches the Word so that you can know – KNOW – the Truth unfiltered, undiluted, and uninfected by the message du jour – “love is love.” No, it is not.
God is love, and in Him there is no darkness at all. The “love is love,” and any other sound-byte messaging along these lines is darkness.
This world is darkened in their understanding. They’ve gouged out their own eyes and plugged their own ears, laying their ears and eyes at the Satanic altar of tolerance.
And these same lost souls turn with hands outstretched, seeking like addicts but only accepting what appeases their own foolishness, only tolerating what will allow them to hold onto their sins and still wear the name “Christian.”
They expect God to look past their darkness and welcome them based on their personal definition of love. He won’t.
Our only acceptance is in being reconciled with God through the true Jesus Christ – not a woke version of Jesus the false church has preached.
Truth can be found…it’s in His word and in the Word.
Jesus is the way. The truth. The Life. Correction: He’s the ONLY way, the ONLY truth, the ONLY life.
I can rest in that truth and be assured in Jesus Christ. I can be confident in what I know and will not risk the trade for what I don’t know.
“Never trade what you don’t know for what you do know.” Thank you, Pastor Chuck, for that reminder. You can’t make that trade if you’ve only got the truth overflowing from within you because you’ve filled yourself with God’s truth. You won’t make a bad trade in dark times if you’ve surrounded yourself with a bold church that will fight for you, hold you to a high calling, and protect you when you’re weak.
Get to a church that fills you with what you can know so when trials come, you only have the truth filling up your heart. You’re going to need it.
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