Some final thoughts from Piper's Suffering and the Sovereignty of God.
Steve Saint, in his chapter in the above book, suggests there are four reasons for suffering.
1)Punishment for sin
2)To display God's power
3)To build perseverance and character in us
4)To keep us humble
As I read that, I was interested in my own reactions to it. I understand the first reason, as I am very aware of the wickedness of my own heart. I get the second as well, as a sovereign God's right to receive the glory due Him. I just flat don't like #3 & #4. In my own great wisdom, I see them as less valid reasons to endure pain and heartache. Why is this? In part I think it is because I somehow assume that I can gain perseverance, character and humility some other way. Both scripture and experience would indicate otherwise. But lets look at the above list one at a time.
The reality is that we understand #1 even as a part of what our hearts see as "fair". We expect the criminal to receive justice. We anticipate that a good judge will sentence the murderer for the crime he has committed. So it is fairly easy for us to see that God would do the same. But sin is not the only reason for suffering, and we need to be wary of assuming that we know what the reason is.
We may see #2 as God's right as the creator, albeit grudgingly giving him permission to leave us in pain. If we are honest, we still probably at least feel like this is a little unfair, wincing a little at the thought. I read the story in John chapter 9 with just a little bit of reservation. Jesus disciples assumed that a man blind from birth had either sinned or his parents had. Jesus said that it was neither, but that this man's entire life of blindness was so that he could at this moment be the avenue through which God would show his power. Personally, I would have thought that he could have gone blind last week, be healed this week, and achieved the same result. God apparently saw otherwise, and the blind man truly suffered. It was not a theoretical discussion for him, it was real heartache. Accepting that God chose this path for the blind man requires us to bow to God's sovereignty. Job's friends were equally as sure that the heartache he endured was the result of his sin, and were in the end chastised by God. What Job endured was also in order to bring glory to God.
I don't know about you, but for me the third and fourth reasons are more difficult to accept. I don't want perseverance and character, not if I have to endure...(fill in the blank). I want it to be easy. I want to win the Olympics after two days of workouts. Sounds pretty foolish, doesn't it? Let me give two scriptures that address this, though there are countless more. Psalm 119:71 says "It was good for me to be afflicted, so that I might learn your decrees." Obviously the Psalmist thought his pain was necessary to know his Lord well. The second verse is Romans 5:3-4, and gives the sequence of this third reason almost word for word. "...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." I found myself wondering if I would have hope without character, character without perseverance, or perseverance without suffering. When things are easy I go play tennis. When things are gut-wrenching I have no trouble praying.
Our pastor preached today from James 1:1-18, on How God Grows Faith. James says in part that testing produces perseverance, perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete.
And finally, suffering teaches us to be humble. Cuts through our pride and self-sufficiency. Reminds us our next breath is purely by His grace. (Ever think about how many things in our bodies have to work to make that next breath possible? Boggles the mind.) God requires of us a bended knee, a bowed head, a recognition of his sovereignty. Only then will we really know Him.
There is a certain element where why we suffer really doesn't matter nearly as much as how we suffer. Suffering will come, though in differing forms and degrees. We have an opportunity to show to the world that He is worthy of our
trust even when, and maybe especially when, we go through deep waters.
When we don't see that God is faithful, we need to remember Psalm 119:75, "In faithfulness you have afflicted me." God is, as a part of his character, faithful. That means He is always faithful, even when we don't see it, because it is not based on us, but on Him. God was every bit as faithful when Israel was in slavery as He was when they were led out of slavery.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
THE PLAGUE OF PROSPERITY
THE PLAGUE OF PROSPERITY
We tend to be bewitched by prosperity. John Piper calls it the "apathy of abundance", and says that "comfort and ease and affluence and prosperity and safety and freedom...can often produce weakness, apathy, lethargy, self-centeredness, and preoccupation with security.
We live such a life of ease that it can suck the passion right out of our spiritual life. We don't feel like we "need" God. We are busy having fun. Visiting friends and family. Deciding where to go on vacation. Researching which car/computer/flat screen TV/ furniture/tools/(fill in the blank) we should buy next. Is all of this bad? Maybe yes and maybe no. But therein lies the problem. As usual, it's about balance. And the real danger is that the imbalance is so subtle that we may not recognize it. That is why scripture, in Matthews account of the parable of the sower, calls it the "deceitfulness of riches". In the 70's, Francis Schaefer called it the desire for "personal peace and affluence", and said it was one of the most dangerous perils that the western church faced.
Isn't interesting to see down through history how the church has grown through adversity? There are examples too many to count. But examples of growth through times of ease? Not so much. I think that's a part of why the Bible says, "In faithfulness you have afflicted me." Psalm 119:75 He cares too much for us to allow us to blithely slide through life, unaware of how much we need him, and of the peril of relying, even unconsciously, on prosperity. Deep, meaningful faith tends to be harder to come by in times of ease. Much of the Psalms are recorded while David literally fled for his life from Saul.
But if suffering comes into our lives for many reasons, which scripture clearly says is true, one of those reasons is to get our attention. To strip away the trivial things, like prosperity, that may distract us from what is truly important in life, and to recognize our very real need of God. Needs that prosperity and "things" can't satisfy. If we are too immersed in these things, we won't hear what God is saying when he is asking if we will trust him. And thus our hardships in life will miss their God appointed purpose, that we learn that trust, and instead will be wasted pain. How tragic. Our challenge is to not let this Plague incapacitate us, to let the apathy of abundance create a powerless, meaningless faith that really looks no different to the world than self-reliance. We mustn't buy the lie.
Nor, by the way, is there piety in poverty. He is merely asking, in a different way, if we will trust him
We tend to be bewitched by prosperity. John Piper calls it the "apathy of abundance", and says that "comfort and ease and affluence and prosperity and safety and freedom...can often produce weakness, apathy, lethargy, self-centeredness, and preoccupation with security.
We live such a life of ease that it can suck the passion right out of our spiritual life. We don't feel like we "need" God. We are busy having fun. Visiting friends and family. Deciding where to go on vacation. Researching which car/computer/flat screen TV/ furniture/tools/(fill in the blank) we should buy next. Is all of this bad? Maybe yes and maybe no. But therein lies the problem. As usual, it's about balance. And the real danger is that the imbalance is so subtle that we may not recognize it. That is why scripture, in Matthews account of the parable of the sower, calls it the "deceitfulness of riches". In the 70's, Francis Schaefer called it the desire for "personal peace and affluence", and said it was one of the most dangerous perils that the western church faced.
Isn't interesting to see down through history how the church has grown through adversity? There are examples too many to count. But examples of growth through times of ease? Not so much. I think that's a part of why the Bible says, "In faithfulness you have afflicted me." Psalm 119:75 He cares too much for us to allow us to blithely slide through life, unaware of how much we need him, and of the peril of relying, even unconsciously, on prosperity. Deep, meaningful faith tends to be harder to come by in times of ease. Much of the Psalms are recorded while David literally fled for his life from Saul.
But if suffering comes into our lives for many reasons, which scripture clearly says is true, one of those reasons is to get our attention. To strip away the trivial things, like prosperity, that may distract us from what is truly important in life, and to recognize our very real need of God. Needs that prosperity and "things" can't satisfy. If we are too immersed in these things, we won't hear what God is saying when he is asking if we will trust him. And thus our hardships in life will miss their God appointed purpose, that we learn that trust, and instead will be wasted pain. How tragic. Our challenge is to not let this Plague incapacitate us, to let the apathy of abundance create a powerless, meaningless faith that really looks no different to the world than self-reliance. We mustn't buy the lie.
Nor, by the way, is there piety in poverty. He is merely asking, in a different way, if we will trust him
Thursday, September 5, 2013
PASSIVE PASSION
PASSIVE PASSION
Deuteronomy 6:5 says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." In Romans, the apostle Paul calls it "zeal", not a word we use much today, but a word that we do understand. We might call it passion, though with less of an emotional emphasis. When Paul says zeal, he goes on to give a list of actions, not emotions. "With all of your heart, soul and strength" doesn't bring to mind the word passive. I think most would agree that passive passion is an oxymoron. (Don't you just love that word?) So what is passion? Let's start with what it is not. It's not emotion, at least not all of the time. It's not determination. It's not something we can work up, or create on our own. It's not gritting my teeth and forcing myself to live a certain way.Though the Israelites were often described as "zealous for the Lord", the Old Testament is a litany of how their determination to live for God was an abject failure. Over and over again, they failed to live up to God's standards. And so will we. Yet we are commanded to live with zeal and with all of our strength.
I believe that our passion will only come from an increasing recognition of His grace to us. That abundance of grace should leave us with an open-mouthed, wide-eyed, shaking our head kind of disbelief that He could love us in spite of our sin and failures. Like Davids cry of "Who am I?", it should lead to a humility beyond words. That sense of wonder at His grace should lead to a very deep passion in us. It should lead to service, sharing, and grace to others who may fail or hurt us.
Can you imagine the apostle Paul saying “I need to speak to the Corinthians about love, but after all, it is time for Monday night football. I’ll do that tomorrow.” Some nights I sit at home and think, shouldn’t I be reading about great men of faith, or books that would inspire or challenge me? And then I don’t. And I have no excuse, except that I’m tired and need to “unwind”. Is that valid? Sometimes it probably is. But I need to be careful about being too passive about my faith, about what stirs me to think, contemplate, and most of all motivates me to act. Instead I am only passively passionate at best, maybe passionately passive at worst.
Keith Green wrote a song that says in part, "Nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus. I know that I would surely fall away, except for grace, by which I'm saved." Nothing lasts but grace. Nothing. I should have, with every passing year, a little more awareness of my own sinfulness, and of the undeserved favor He has shown not only to draw me to Himself, but also to give me the strength and desire to live for Him.
While we can't create or force passion in ourselves, we can pray that God would help us to see his grace to us. I believe that will lead to a deep and lasting passion for the things of God. I love the prayer of Moses. "If I have found favor in your eyes, teach me your ways, so I may know you, and continue to find favor with you." That cycle gives me hope that I can ask God for His continued grace to create passion in me, to more deeply "know you".
May passivity die a quick, merciless death in my life.
Deuteronomy 6:5 says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." In Romans, the apostle Paul calls it "zeal", not a word we use much today, but a word that we do understand. We might call it passion, though with less of an emotional emphasis. When Paul says zeal, he goes on to give a list of actions, not emotions. "With all of your heart, soul and strength" doesn't bring to mind the word passive. I think most would agree that passive passion is an oxymoron. (Don't you just love that word?) So what is passion? Let's start with what it is not. It's not emotion, at least not all of the time. It's not determination. It's not something we can work up, or create on our own. It's not gritting my teeth and forcing myself to live a certain way.Though the Israelites were often described as "zealous for the Lord", the Old Testament is a litany of how their determination to live for God was an abject failure. Over and over again, they failed to live up to God's standards. And so will we. Yet we are commanded to live with zeal and with all of our strength.
I believe that our passion will only come from an increasing recognition of His grace to us. That abundance of grace should leave us with an open-mouthed, wide-eyed, shaking our head kind of disbelief that He could love us in spite of our sin and failures. Like Davids cry of "Who am I?", it should lead to a humility beyond words. That sense of wonder at His grace should lead to a very deep passion in us. It should lead to service, sharing, and grace to others who may fail or hurt us.
Can you imagine the apostle Paul saying “I need to speak to the Corinthians about love, but after all, it is time for Monday night football. I’ll do that tomorrow.” Some nights I sit at home and think, shouldn’t I be reading about great men of faith, or books that would inspire or challenge me? And then I don’t. And I have no excuse, except that I’m tired and need to “unwind”. Is that valid? Sometimes it probably is. But I need to be careful about being too passive about my faith, about what stirs me to think, contemplate, and most of all motivates me to act. Instead I am only passively passionate at best, maybe passionately passive at worst.
Keith Green wrote a song that says in part, "Nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus. I know that I would surely fall away, except for grace, by which I'm saved." Nothing lasts but grace. Nothing. I should have, with every passing year, a little more awareness of my own sinfulness, and of the undeserved favor He has shown not only to draw me to Himself, but also to give me the strength and desire to live for Him.
While we can't create or force passion in ourselves, we can pray that God would help us to see his grace to us. I believe that will lead to a deep and lasting passion for the things of God. I love the prayer of Moses. "If I have found favor in your eyes, teach me your ways, so I may know you, and continue to find favor with you." That cycle gives me hope that I can ask God for His continued grace to create passion in me, to more deeply "know you".
May passivity die a quick, merciless death in my life.
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