Books The Arts

Chapter 2: The Good Teacher

Trillia Newbell

Editor’s Note: This is a short article for the purpose to generate conversation based on the book The Good Life by Trip Lee.  Please join us on each Thursdays for our book discussion.*

Last week we looked at some of the lies we believe when we consider what the good life should look like. Today we read that the only one who can lead us to the good life is God. He is the Good Teacher. Lee reminds us of who God is. “He is God. That statement in itself says more about Him than anything else could. He is the all-powerful Creator, Sustainer, and Owner of all things, including you and me,” (p 30). God is good. He is not like you and I. He is set apart—holy. We have sinned. Yet God desires good for us. We can choose to follow someone or something else but we were only made to follow God.

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God offers to lead us to the good life through His son, Jesus.  This is not just a message for unbelievers. We are called to follow the leader.

[Tweet “God offers to lead us to the good life through His son, Jesus.”]

What might be keeping you from following God? The road to following Christ is often a road of death– death to self–but it leads to life. Do you think that it can become difficult to preserve when the false “good life” looks so good? What steps might you take to remember that the gospel truly is good news?

[Tweet “The road to following Christ is often a road of death– death to self–but it leads to life.”]

*Each chapter synopsis assumes the reader as read the chapter and will not be in-depth. The discussion questions are open to anyone so please, join in even if you missed your reading this week or do not own the book.

TrilliaNewbell

Trillia Newbell is the author of Fear and Faith: Finding the Peace Your Heart Craves (2015) and United: Captured by God's Vision for Diversity (2014). Her writings on issues of faith, family, and diversity have been published in the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Desiring God, Christianity Today, Relevant Magazine, The Gospel Coalition, and more. She is currently Director of Community Outreach for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for the Southern Baptist Convention. For fun, she enjoys group fitness (she used to be a fitness instructor!), cycling, and listening to a variety of music. Trillia is married to her best friend, Thern; they reside with their two children near Nashville, TN. You can find her at trillianewbell.com and follow her on twitter at @trillianewbell

1 Comment

  1. Jemar

    I find that even as a Christian the decision to follow Jesus is a daily one. I don’t mean that one loses salvation and needs to keep getting “re-saved.” By God’s own work and initiative we are His, forever and finally. I mean in the Luke 9:23 sense, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” It helps me to remember that I have to daily commit to following Christ. Although through Christ we are made right with God once and for all. We have to remind ourselves, through the Word and the Spirit, to live in this reality every day. Thanks for this summary, Trillia!

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