Message from Chuck Allen on August 8, 2022
In today’s episode of the Sugar Hill Church weekday podcast, Pastor Chuck Allen talks about the paradoxes of life, inspired by an article titled Angels with an Incredible Capacity for Beer and a quote by Brennan Manning. He reflects on the Apostle Paul's message about contentment, reminding us that Paul learned to be content in both abundance and scarcity. Pastor Chuck encourages us to fight negativity by focusing on positivity, practicing gratitude, and spending time with God.
You know what I've discovered? That life is one big paradox. It just seems like no matter where you go, there's always somewhere else you should be. I read an article by one of my favorite authors, a fellow by the name of Scott Sauls, yesterday.
He titled it Angels with an Incredible Capacity for Beer. That title caught me off guard and I thought it was just pretty hilarious. So I read the article and I found this quote that he used by Brennan Manning, the author of The Ragamuffin Gospel, that said, When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes.
I believe and I doubt, I hope and I get discouraged. I love and I hate. I feel bad about feeling good. I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I'm trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games.
Aristotle said, I am a rational animal. I say, I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer. I don't care who you are. That's funny. I don't care who you are. I mean, seriously, the Apostle Paul wrote letters that said that we could do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
And while I know that that is true, I also know that before he got to those words, he also taught us something that was even more impressive. I mean, he didn't say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me for the sake of saying it. He said that after he had said, I've learned to be content with little or with much. Now, that is pretty awesome.
I mean, if you think about it, what he actually said was, not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. That was the precursor to being able to say, for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.
You know, my friend, today, maybe we ought to check up on our paradoxes. We have faith, but we doubt. Well, we struggle, but we're happy. We're not happy, but we want to be happy.
Anywhere you look today, you'll find a paradox. The question is, do we see a way out of the paradox to a point of contentment? I realize this, that contentment has to be something I work toward. It's not natural. I mean, therapists say that we have a natural negativity bias that happens in our brain, which means the people we talk to the most are ourselves, and we typically speak negatively toward that.
It's the same thing in leadership. If there's a pothole of leadership somewhere, what rushes to fill it is negativity. If there is a problem politically, what rushes to fill it is negativity.
Contentment can't happen when we spend our life in the world of negativity. So, I invite you today to these three steps toward discovering contentment.
Number one, decide that you're going to have a positivity bias this day, and you're going to get yourself focused on being positive in a world full of negativity. Number two, that you're going to, within this day, discover that you can be filled with joy if you are grateful for what you have. Jot down three things you're grateful for, and then third, spend a little time telling the Lord that you love Him, and then speak with Him out loud and watch and see how your contentment grows today.
Thanks so much for joining us today for the weekday podcast. We would love to see you at Sugar Hill Church for one of our gatherings each Sunday at 9 and 11, and we are always streaming live at live.sugarhill.church.
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