Chuck Colson has written another great book.  “The Good Life” is about seeking  purpose, meaning, and truth in your life.  I have always been a big fan of Chuck Colson and he is a great thinker.  He does such a great job of evaluating our culture and pointing out the places where we have gone astray.

In his new book, he talks about 4 paradoxes.  A paradox is a seeming contradiction that turns out to be true.  G.K. Chesterton defined a paradox as “truth standing on her head to get our attention.”  These are worth considering.

1.  Out of suffering and defeat often comes victory.  It never ceases to amaze me at how God can bring something good out of a mess.

2.  We have to lose our lives to save them.  When we try to do it our way, the result is always going to be disaster.

3.  Freedom lies not in conforming to the world’s expectations or even realizing what we take to be our deepest wishes; it lies in following the call on our lives.

4.  We have got to understand the evil in our selves before we can truly embrace the good in life.  We must understand that we are sinners by nature and by choice.

Unless we come to an understanding of these, we are not going to be able to handle the unexpected turns in life.  Circumstances will always be throwing us off course.  I have already seen that in several lives today.  These truths remind us that we must keep our eyes of Him for He has a plan.