I find myself asking the question sometimes "Isn't God enough?"
And after I stir myself up emotionally, I come to a "conclusion" that
"Of course He is."
Yet, where do I find my pleasure. In stuff. The material blessings of God. The temporal.
In conjunction with the previous blog entry...Isn't God higher than all those.
Isn't He infinitely more interesting and new to us every day?
Isn't His will for our lives an unparalleled adventure, that is exclusive
to every other believer's.
It is. And if we can distance ourselves from the boring and useless, which
Piper explains in the following quote, that's only when God will reveal to us
the truely substantial.
"The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife ( Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but His gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable."
-John Piper
"According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye me might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (II Peter 1:3,4)
"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and you labout for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness" (Isaiah 55:2)
One last thought. God isn't boring. Letting go of our stuff is actually a relief, I think of a dog shaking itself dry in the yard. Everything is in Him, all satisfaction now and forever.
Savior, if of Zion's city
I through grace a member am,
Let the world deride or pity;
I will glory in Thy name!
Fading is the worldling's pleasure--
all his boasted pomp and show.
SOLID JOYS and LASTING TREASURES
none but Zion's children know.
~ John Newton, "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken"
Posted by: joydriven at July 28, 2003 10:04 AMi had found this eariler on joy's blog and thought it pertinant. this description is what we should be striving towards in our Christian walk. that denyal of self you are speaking of. and it shames me to no end that i, a 21 year old, can't get what this 13 year old attained.
They say there is a young lady in New Haven who is beloved of that Great Being, who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this Great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on him—that she expects after a while to be received up where he is, to be raised up out of the world and caught up into heaven; being assured that he loves her too well to let her remain at a distance from him always. There she is to dwell with him, and to be ravished with his love and delight forever. Therefore, if you present all the world before her, with the richest of its treasures, she disregards it and cares not for it, and is unmindful of any pain or affliction. She has a strange sweetness in her mind and singular purity in her affections; is most just and conscientious in all her conduct; and you could not persuade her to do anything wrong or sinful, if you would give her all the world, lest she should offend this Great Being. She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind; especially after this Great God has manifested himself to her mind. She will sometimes go about from place to place, singing sweetly; and seems to be always full of joy and pleasure; and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have some one invisible always conversing with her.
Jonathan Edwards' description of the thirteen-year-old girl who would one day consent to be his wife, Sarah Pierrepont Edwards
"She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind"
It's a beautiful thing. She knew. There was a stability in her presence.
The Lord was walking her through life.
It wasn't difficult for her, and it's not difficult for us, because it's not us at all.
"God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us *alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)
and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Eph 2:2-6
*Truly alive, "animated, lively". And aware of Him: "made known to us the mystery of His will."
You know that this girl was saved, because Christ came out of her. I was talking with Steph Geter about something that had been preying on my mind and that is the lostness of people in the church. The worrying, complaining, arguing, pining away.
We weren't saved into that, we were yanked out of that. There has to be a change.
Posted by: Ben at July 28, 2003 11:17 PM
i here you on the people lost in the church. even in my church a love for building projects, message "illustrations" that take up the whole time, excuses to not preach, gossip, complacency etc are rearing their ugly heads. and why is that? we are becoming comfortable in our Christianity. we have lost the awesomeness of our Saviour. i am reading tozer's knowledge of the holy right now, and he brought up a point that i think explains this whole bit with the churches and people fully. he says that when a church body or even individuals start to go downhill is when their view of God starts to become more human. He ceases to be a holy, just, angry, loving God and takes on more humanistic qualities. i will have to get an exact quote for you later. but it just hit me that this is what is happening. we lose our respect for our God. and i think another factor is that being second and third generation Christians it is easyer to be more settled in our Christianity. i am a second generation and i have always had everything handed to me. Christians in our circles didn't have to flee for their beliefs. we are americans and haven't had to struggle. so i think that adds to the problem there too.
did i just totaly ramble or am i making sense? not too much good comes out of my head at 8:30am. =)
i don't think you are rambling. i think you need to come visit us sometime. �
http://www.wordcenteredministry.org/
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