Something that really struck me.
The following is a series of paragraphs taken from John Piper's book Don't Waste Your Life.
"Now think what this means for God's love. How shall God love us? Mere logic could give us the answer: God loves us best by giving us the best to enjoy forever, namely himself, for he is best. But we are not dependant on logic alone. The Bible makes this clear. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoeverbelieves in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). God loves us by giving us eternal life at the cost of his Son, Jesus Christ. But what is eternal life? Is it eternal self-esteem? Is it heaven full of mirrors? Or snowboards, or golf links?
No. Jesus tell us exactly what he meant: "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus christ whom you have sent" (John 3:17). What is eternal life? It is to know God and his Son, Jesus Christ. No thing can satisfy the soul. The soul was made to stand in awe in a Person - the only person worthy of awe. All heroes are shadows of Christ. We love to admire their excellence. How much more will we be satisfied by the one Person who conceived all excellence and embodies all skill, all talent, all strength and brilliance and savvy and goodness. This is what I have been trying to say. God loves us by liberating us from the bondage of self so that we can enjoy knowing and admiring him forever.
Or consider the way the apostle Peter says it. "Christ also sufferent once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that HE MIGHT BRING US TO GOD" (1 Peter 3:18). Why did God send Jesus Christ to die for us? "That he might bring us to God" - to himself. God sent Christ to die so that we could come home to the all-satisfying Father. This is love. God's love for us is God's doing what he must do, at great cost to himself, so that we might have the pleasure of seeing and savoring him forever. If it is true, as the Psalmist says to God, "In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11), then what must love do? It must rescue us from our addiction to self and bring us, changed, into the presence of God."
~ Taken from Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper
Hey Naomi,
ReplyDeleteJust a thought: You might wish to more clearly distinguish what are quotes from a book, and what are your own thoughts. It's difficult to tell whether this whole thing is just copy/pasted from a book, or whether some paragraphs are yours. You might want to pass this message along to Jacinda as well. :)
Wes
haha! thanks Wes :) Have fun teaching Sunday school!
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