Clay Feet

I enjoyed reading John Piper's thoughts on Lincoln in honor of his 200th birthday at DesiringGod.org. I've always known Lincoln as a hero for ending the injustice of slavery. And it is true, he was considered to be a progressive in that area in his time and is credited with ending slavery in America.

But consider these comments made by Lincoln:

• [H]e had “no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and black races.”
  
• He was not in favor of “making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry.”
  
• He said there is a “physical difference between the two” that would “probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality.”

Shockingly, in 2009, Lincoln would have been a considered racist! John Piper relates:

"[L]ike every hero, his [Lincoln's] feet are clay. That is what human greatness is—deeply flawed.

There is one hero, and only one, who will not let you down—Jesus Christ. All other heroes fail us, and the reason they do is to point us to Christ. There is no one more admirable, and more worthy of our praise, than Christ. At the very moment when he looked least praiseworthy, he was achieving the highest triumph of love—his death.

I thank God for Abraham Lincoln today. And among other great reasons one of them is: admiring and disillusioned I turn to Jesus."

It made me think of some men and woman I have 'heroized' in the past. It's true: The failures of men have served to point me to Jesus as the hero that will never, ever fail. Thinking of clay feet makes me think of how Jesus' feet are described in Revelation 1:15 "like fine copper when glowing in a furnace." Wow. What a comparison.

All items in italics were taken directly from Desiring God, Admiring and Disillusioned I turn from Lincoln to Jesus, by John Piper.

The Supremacy of God

I love to be reminded that God has the power to do anything He wants and that He orders all the events that take place. It helps me to so much more grateful for His mercies. Check out The President, The Passengers, and The Patience of God by John Piper for a beautiful description of the supremacy and mercy God in the events that took place over the last week.

"Sometimes we are so overwhelmed at being treated better than we deserve that we must exult in the all-sovereign God—the God of birds' flight and Obama’s rise. When King David pondered how many were God’s “wondrous deeds,” he said, “I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told” (Psalm 40:5). That’s the way I feel watching God’s public mercies in the last few days"... Read the rest here.

Because of the steadfast love of the LORD, we are not cut off his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

HT: Desiring God

DG Conference 'Job: When the Righteous Suffer'

Desiring God is holding a conference this weekend called "Job: When the Righteous Suffer". I have been enjoying the blogging going on during the conference at the Desiring God Blog. If you have time you should definitely check them out.

Here's some of the blog postings available:

• Why a Conference on Job? Dealing with Absurd Suffering
• 10 Reasons to Ponder Job's Story
• 7 Implications of the Book of Job
  
• Lessons to Learn From Job's Friends
• 5 Reasons to Accept Elihu's Speech

Here's a few quotes from the blog that I liked:

From 7 Implications of the Book of Job:

Let your tears flow freely when your calamity comes.

"Job arose, rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell upon his face" (1:20).

The sobs of grief and pain are not the sign of unbelief. Job knows nothing of a flippant, insensitive, superficial "Praise God anyhow" response to suffering. The magnificence of his worship is because it was in grief, not because it replaced grief.

And let the rest of us weep with those who weep.

From Lessons We Can Learn From Job's Friends (probably my favorite post):

True theological statements can be false.

If you take many of the statements of Job's friends separately, they sound like good theology. But their application is shallow and insensitive....(Proverbs 26:9)...We put a high premium on good theology. But let us be warned: it can be made false by the way it is applied, and can even be destructive in the mouth of fools. Drink deep at the fountain of God's truth. And let love stand as a watchman at the gate of your mouth. (my emphasis)

Suffering and prosperity are not distributed in proportion to the evil or good that a person does.

Job is right: the wicked are spared in the day of calamity (21:30). But the just and blameless man is a laughing stock (12:4). Therefore let us not judge one another too quickly, or at all. Those who suffer most may be the best. And those who prosper most may be the worst among us.

(...)

There is wisdom behind the apparent arbitrariness of the world, but it is hidden from man.

Where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
Man does not know the way to it,
and it is not found in the land of the living . . .
God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place. (28:12–13, 23)

We see through a glass darkly, even from our New Testament perspective (1 Corinthians 13:12). But faith always affirms that no matter how chaotic and absurd things may seem to our limited view they are in fact the tactics of infinite wisdom.

The complete sermon notes, audio, and video from the conference can be found here as they become available.

Hope you get a chance to look over some of the conference materials. And can I just say that I love live blogging!

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

So I was sitting in service today listening to yet another message about how Christians are just like the world in many ways and how we need to follow Jesus' commands and that the law is still applicable and we need to follow it and how if we love Him we will obey His commands, etc., and all those things are true. But, I just think that it leads to so much guilt when they are isolated and emphasized without teaching about the all-surpassing beauty and satisfaction found in Christ. I read God is the Gospel by John Piper last week and I loved so many of his points. I wonder if people are failing in their Christian walk, not because they are neglecting the law, but because they don't know Him. I mean, they know Him, but they don't REALLY know Him in all His glory and all His beauty. During service today as I was a contemplating all this, an old chorus we used to sing at church popped into my head:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

I wonder if the reason we struggle with sin so much is because we don't 'look full' into the wonderful face of Jesus. I know in my own life that as I know Christ more the things of earth actually do 'grow strangely dim'.

So maybe the message shouldn't be on how we need to follow the law and obey His commands and stop sinning. Maybe we should have more messages about the beauty, glory, and grace of Jesus. Maybe we need to hear more messages about who HE is rather than about what we should be or shouldn't be doing. Just a thought.

"[W]e bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them". Acts 14:15b

Jesus and Buddha on Happiness: DesiringGod.org

I enjoyed this article comparing Jesus' and Buddha's views on lasting happiness at Desiring God. I'd definitely recommend reading the whole article, but here are a few of my favorite comparisons.

"The Buddha taught that nothing lasts, so be attached to nothing. Jesus taught that One Thing lasts, so at all cost, be attached to that!"

"Jesus knows that our desire for happiness is designed by God and so is our desire for permanence.... We are designed to be satisfied with the one eternal, permanent God."

"Jesus and the Buddha agree that pursuing happiness in transient things is futile, but they direct us to opposite solutions. The Buddha says satisfaction is treasuring nothing. Jesus says it is treasuring God...."

"Evil is when we believe that God will not satisfy us and therefore pursue happiness in transient things. That’s the essence of sin."

Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:12-13)

I want to pursue happiness in God. I don't want to 'hew out' my own 'cisterns' to try to satisfy my desires. I want to be entirely satisfied and find my treasure in Him, 'the fountain of living waters'.

No Autonomy in the Fallen World

“The ultimate question is not who you are but whose you are. Of course, many people think they are nobody’s slave. They dream of total independence. Like a jellyfish carried by the tides feels free because it isn’t fastened down with the bondage of barnacles. . . . The Bible gives no reality to fallen humans who are ultimately self-determining. There is no autonomy in the fallen world. We are governed by sin or governed by God.” ~John Piper

Source: Defending. Contending. & Symphony of Scripture

Most Satisfied in Him

God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him. ~John Piper

I've read this a few times before, but the truth of it really struck me tonight. John Piper calls it Christian Hedonism. It's a great quote to think about... just being satisfied entirely in Him can bring God glory. May I be 'most satisified in Him'!

Most Glorified

“God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him in the midst of loss, not prosperity.” ~John Piper

Singleness: For Better or For Worse

Several months ago P. John Piper spoke an encouraging message about singleness that had everyone who heard it wondering, "If the blessings of singleness were as he said, then is it right to desire marriage and why would anyone want to?" I'm posting some of the best parts of his response to that question:

"....The objective truths about marriage are primarily God’s design:

1. To display his covenant keeping love between Christ and the church,
2. To sanctify the couple with the peculiar pains and pleasures of marriage,
3. To beget and rear a generation of white-hot worshippers, and
4. And to channel good sexual desire into holy paths and transpose it into worshipful foretastes of heaven’s pleasures.

That is a high calling, but it is only compelling if it meets with internal longings for God that lean strongly into these designs.

The objective truths about singleness are also primarily God’s design:

1. To display the spiritual nature of God’s family that grows from regeneration and faith, not procreation and sex,
2. To sanctify the single with the peculiar pains and pleasures of singleness,
3. To capture more of the single’s life for non-domestic ministry that is so desperately needed in the world,
4. And to magnify the all-satisfying worth of Christ that sustains life-long chastity.

That is a high calling, but it is only compelling if it meets with internal longings for God that lean strongly into these designs.

....

I don’t know which holds out more joys and more hardships..... This would be clear if all [men and women] not only heard the wedding vows, “For better or for worse,” but also heard the same words written over singleness: “For better or for worse.” Marriage may prove to be gloriously happy, or painfully disappointing. Singleness may prove to be gloriously satisfying or painfully disappointing. Only God knows which it will be for you.

So in the end, your heart really matters...."

I'd always felt bad about not being married because a lot of the time people really see it as a status symbol. I wanted the 'next level' marriage status. I'm over the loneliness part of being single. I'm over the longing part of being single. I'm really quite content except of course for the wanting the babies thing--that is the only thing that will get me to tears if I dwell on it.

The thing that helped me to be the most content in my singleness was understanding God's sovereignty. The following quote by Loraine Boettner expressing the thoughts I have about God's sovereignty: "Although the sovereignty of God is universal and absolute, it is not the sovereignty of blind power. It is coupled with infinite wisdom, holiness, and love. And this doctrine, when properly understood, is a most comforting and reassuring one.”

So then, God chooses my state in life based on his infinite wisdom, holiness, and love. Whether He desires me to married or single then it is His will because He is good and He knows what is best. But it's not just that He knows it's best for me, He knows the thing that will bring Him the most glory. So if I can bring Him the most glory by being single then let it be and let me not faint and grow weary and give up. If it's that I can bring him the most glory being married and having children then let it be let me not faint and grow weary and give up. May God be glorified and may His Name be great.