Skip to main content

Spectacular Sins

Spectacular Sins: And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of ChristI just started another one of the books that I received for Christmas.  This one is titled Spectacular Sins and it is also by John Piper.

I didn't know what to expect when I started the book.  The full title should have clued me in... "Spectacular Sins and their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ", but I still wasn't sure what this book was going to be about.  Joni Eareckson Tada wrote this about the book (from the back of the book):
"When it comes to holocausts and other horrors, most of us assume God has his hands tied and his back to the wall.  But John Piper paints a different picture from the pages of Scripture that will strengthen your heart, bolster your faith, and deepen your understanding of the 'largeness' of God's sovereignty."
I have finished the first three chapters of this book, and I am having a hard time keeping myself from blogging the entire thing.  I believe it is an important book in what it is saying.  I believe that it will have an impact in my life and ministry as it is unfolding the powerful words of God into my mind and my heart.  As John Piper says in this book,
"Paul's antidote for wimpy Christians is weighty doctrine.  In Paul's mind, the most massive truths are meant for producing radical lives of obedience.  That's why I say the main point of this book is not information for your head, but application to your life."
That is what I am experiencing in this book, weighty truths.  They are being preached to me through scripture by a pastor... a pastor who feels he has a job to do.
"As a pastor, I do not think it is my job to entertain you during the last days.  It is not my calling to help you have chipper feelings while the whole creation groans.  My job is to put the kind of ballast in the belly of your boat so that when these waves crash against your life, you will not capsize but make it to the harbor of heaven -- battered and wounded, but full of faith and joy."
I agree, but most of the Christians that I know... many times including myself... are mostly interested in being comfortable.  So much so we want to be comfortable that we will do most anything to achieve that comfort.  And I am not just talking about building comfortable environments for ourselves, including big TVs and comfortable chairs and couches and finding new ways to entertain ourselves... NO, I am talking about Christians who will do anything... ANYTHING to avoid hardship, tragedy, suffering, heartache, etc.

Christians ordering their lives around avoidance of these difficulties.  Christians that will determine who and how they will serve to keep even the thought of sickness and death away from their doorstep.  Christians that have come to believe that God can be manipulated; that if they do and say the right things, God will not allow suffering in their lives.

I know I run the risk of over-quoting, but I want to include one more quote:
"I am writing this book to build a vision of God into our lives that will not let us down in the worst of times.  I mean really bad times.  Horrific times.  Who is prepared to meet the Agony that is coming?
"Our worship services and our preaching too often pamper us.  They coddle.  I am not opposed to friends helping us with the daily frustrations that make us unhappy.  There is plenty of proverbial wisdom in the Bible to warrant this.  It is good.  Love does this.  I need this help.  I want it.  There is a time for everything under heaven, even pampering.  But surely the preaching of God's word must aim for more than this."
I believe that hard times are coming for me and ... I hate to say it ... for you too.

At least one person just screamed and ran away from the computer.  "No, no, I can't think that.  IF I think it, God will hear me and realize that I am now prepared for suffering.  Since God won't allow me to endure anything that I can't handle, I must now convince God that I can't handle ___________ !"

I am forcing myself to stop quoting this book.  It is good.  Get it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Seed and The Soil of Education (New Learning Project Part 1)

(This is my entry for the first part of my project for my New Learning course that I am taking.) Introduction Corn Fields in Illinois I have lived the majority of my life in the Midwest: mid-state Illinois to be specific. Where I live, farming is everywhere. My grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers. My dad grew up on a farm and owned farmland, well into my own adulthood. But, even if it wasn’t in the family, I still would have been surrounded by farming. You can’t go more than a mile outside of my city’s limits without encountering miles and miles of fields. Most of our highways, and even interstates, are located between acres of farmland.

This too shall pass...

Gam zeh ya'avor (Hebrew) "This Too Shall Pass" Welcome!  According to Google Analytics, this is by far the most visited post that I have ever written.  If someone comes here from a search engine, most of the time they are looking for " this too shall pass quote " or simply " this too shall pass " on Google or one of the other search engines. I am sure that most of the time visitors are looking for the originations of this quote, but I have to wonder, why is this quote on people's minds? Why are they pondering the passing of events?   Here is my thought: It is probably because most of us have realized that the adult life is much harder than we ever imagined it to be. There is more pain and more sorrow than we had ever imagined as children, but we have learned that time keeps ticking. And as time continues to flow things pass. In fact, even the really big things and the really hard things will still pass. If you are here because you are thinking ...

The Minnesota Crime Commission wrote:

Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toys, his uncle's watch, or whatever. Deny him these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He's dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no developed skills. This means that all children, not just certain children but all children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in their self-centered world of infancy, given free reign to their impulsive actions to satisfy each want, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.