To Sacrifice A Higher For A Lower?

John Piper in 1977:
 The only reason for living is the achievement of what you value. Nobody should ever sacrifice a higher value to a lower one. You should always aspire to deciding what you value. Until that happens you cannot make any reasonable steps toward choosing a vocation (or anything else). My highest value is to see God glorified. The way God has guided me to realize that value is through ____________ .

Stop. Think. The only reason for living ... Never a higher value for a lower value ... Always aspire ... My highest value ...

Now fill in the blank.

The Real Work

It may be that when we no longer know what to do

we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go

we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

~Wendell Berry

But one thing I do:

Forgetting what is behind and straining

toward what is ahead,

I press on . . .

~St. Paul

All Head No Heart?

Psalm 63: 1-5 ~ Beautiful words ~ Your love is better than life!

Blaise Pascal was a 17th century Frenchman, who at age 31 experienced the presence of the God and wrote his memoriam that he then sewed inside his coat as a reminder. He was a mathematician and theologian (what a combination!), a real smart and heady guy; an academic, a thinker. Read what this man of the mind wrote:

In the year of grace 1654, Monday 23 November . . .
From about half-past ten in the evening till about half an hour after midnight.

FIRE
God of Abraham. God of Isaac. God of Jacob.
Not of the philosophers and the learned.
Certainty. Joy. Certainty. Emotion. Sight. Joy.
Forgetfulness of the world and of all outside of God . . .
Joy! Joy! Joy! Tears of joy . . .
My God, will you leave me? Let me not ever be separated from you.

A Thought

I heard this said the other day: "The universe is one of God's thoughts."

What does that mean? In light of Colossians 1: 15-20? Do share.

Glory Story

From "Counsel From The Cross":

Living for the glory story is like chasing a mirage: it looks so good out there in the distance, but once we attain the sought-after accomplishment, transformation, or acclamation, we see another on the horizon, and the pool we're standing in is not the refreshing spring we thought it would be; it is only a putrid mud hole or another stretch of bone-dry sand.

We Fix It

Bill''s Testimony from Easter Sunday from Grace Bible Church on Vimeo.

Shame, Guilt & Hope

"Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me?" ~Ps. 42:11

Ours is often a journey of shadows.

Have you ever had dark questions trembling within you? Maybe not in those terms; using dated words like O, despair, disturbed, or soul. Probably not using words at all, but instead with groans only inwardly audible. Yet, the essence of the questions sat heavy in your gut making you nauseous. Maybe those questions were heard in the hangover after a night of succumbing to peer pressure partying where drunkenness and lustful indiscretions happened. Or maybe you've felt the rough undertone of interrogation after being consumed in the online fantasy world of triple X deceit. All so easily justified beforehand. To be sure, we never find in sin what we go to sin to find.

Shame and Guilt: A two headed shadow monster of the past and present. They are different from one another, but share the common characteristic of being the heart aching, soul crippling, and faith shrinking afterbirth of a sinful consummation. Guilt applies to things you have done. But, the root of our soul's despair is in our shame - the person we are. Shame ambushes you in the still darkness of the pre-bedtime meditations, the early morning quiet times, and in the stifling doubts that accompany a new venture for God. It echoes, "Will I ever change?" Shame says, "This is the real you: damaged, dirty, and broken beyond repair." Condemnation and accusations in true Satanic style: There is no hope. Using the Garden mixture of overpowering truth with subtle lie concocted to convince you that your not-yet completeness in Christ is evidence of your non-salvation and orphaned reality. Yet, as it was in Eden it is so in your mind; a glass of pure water with a drop of poison makes the entire mixture undrinkable. Do not drink the lies that Shame is serving. You are His. You are His Beloved. You are His Beloved Child. Martin L. was right, all of life is (continual/perpetual/never-ending) repentance. And repentance is stronger proof than guilt and shame that the Spirit is in you and since it is in you - you are in Christ! The despairing psalmist provides the sign that points us onto the path of righteousness away from guilt and shame and toward God. Written on that sign is the declaration and demand - HOPE. There is now, right now, no condemnation for you (or me) in Christ Jesus. Preach it to yourself when temptation lurks and shame slithers near. Let the light of the Gospel burn brighter than the dim arguments of the Flesh and the Serpent.

Submit every competing hope, putting it in God alone, for this properly placed hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out and into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. So then, we will yet praise him, our Savior and our God. (Ps. 42: 11, Rom 5: 5)