Whenever I meet somebody and they greet me by asking, “How are you?” my reply is, “So far, so good.” If I am waiting to see a doctor or a dentist, when someone asks me how I am as they usher me into a room, I say, “So far, so good, but maybe you are going to try and change that.”
I guess the equivalent Christian reply to the question “How are you?” would be “Grace has brought me safe thus far,” as John Newton phrased it in a verse of his hymn Amazing Grace.
A verse from ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ found in Psalm 23:6 puts it yet another way. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”
Proverbs 3:5-8 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body, and refreshment to your bones.”
The only reason Christians can even begin to proclaim ‘so far, so good’ is because of God’s unfailing grace and mercy toward us, through His Son, Jesus, who redeemed our sins and made us righteous with God the Father, if we only believe in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. God gave Jesus to humanity as an atoning sacrifice (Romans 3:25). By means of Jesus’ death on the crucifixion cross, the shedding of Jesus’ blood for us, and Jesus’ subsequent resurrection from the dead three days later, Jesus became the one and only possible Savior of our sins against God, and by faith in Jesus Christ we have eternal life.
On Easter Sunday each year, Christians joyously celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, His victory over death, and what that means for all of us.
We can rely on God’s protection from day to day as we go about our life.
“Take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed, and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And put on the helmet of salvation and take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:13-17).
“The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—whom shall I dread?” (Psalm 27:1)
Through God’s ongoing provisions for us, we need not be discouraged by our daily ‘bummer’ set of circumstances, which try to dampen our spirits, but we can persevere through faith in God. Daily circumstances need not ruin or change our overall outlook on life as we go about our day.
“We can rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us” (Romans 5:3-5).
We cannot avoid having some bad days. But on those infrequent or frequent occasions when either our flesh fails us, or the world comes down hard on us, or Satan attacks us, we can still be victorious through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit working in us so that at the end of each day we can still say to others ‘so far, so good.’
“Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken” (Psalms 55:22).
Not even during those periodic visits to doctors and dentists, a volatile stock market, governmental issues, world concerns, etc., which always have the potential to result in some temporary or even long-term bad news. God will even spare Christians from the terrible Great Tribulation period, through a pre-trib Rapture!
We should not be overly short-sighted and concerned about what will happen in our lives tomorrow, and where we will be tomorrow, but rather we need to be long-sighted and concerned about where we will be in 50, 100, or 500 years from now and beyond, as we spend eternity either with Jesus in heaven, or separated from Jesus in a place you don’t want to go!
I pray you will reach a point in your life when, no matter what is happening in your life, you can say, “So far, so good.” Grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home! Amen!
The following is a short prayer poem I composed for myself to help me get my heart straight and my mind properly focused on what is truly important in this life at the start of a new day.
I praise you, Jesus, first thing every morning.
I praise you, God, all throughout each day.
I praise you for Your grace and Your mercy,
and all Your blessings, each, and every day.