On the way home from Jay & Rachel's wedding this past weekend, DR & I listened to a sermon from John Piper on why there is suffering in this world. This was from a time when he came to University Christian Fellowship in Birmingham and spoke to us college students. I remember feeling glued to my pew and in awe of the gospel being preached in such a vibrant, no-nonsense way. That 5' something man brought conviction and truth to a seemingly "christian" audience. It was a wonderful refresher to hear him preach this message again.
One passage he talks about in reference to how we, as believers, should feel about the suffering in this world is 2 Corinthians 6:10. "we live....as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing". We are always sorrowful because we see a dying, disease-striken, hurting world but we are always rejoicing because we have a resident peace-giver within us: the Holy Spirit. This explains so much about what my husband told me at the beginning of our dating relationship. We won't always be happy, but we will always be joyful. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit; happiness is not. Joy is unaffected pleasure from the supernatural not the natural. Happiness is circumstantial. Joy is (or should be) a constant state in a believer's heart. It's so easy to put on fake joy but you're not fooling anyone by appearing happy 24/7. Christ wants us to have open eyes to this world but at the same time to always be looking up for our joy.
"sorrowful, yet always rejoicing": a verse that's been on my husband's facebook page ever since I've known him. D.R. has had his fair share of sorrowful times. He's only 24 but I've witnessed the pain and suffering in his life these past 4 years when his dear grandmother passed away, when his brother fell victim to drugs, when he was excused from his University for a semester, when I chose someone else over him and more. God remained faithful through those hard times in his life and I watched as he trusted Him no matter how hard and hurtful it seemed. Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.
We should always be sorrowful! Sounds sad, but we live in a pornography-obsessed, adulterated, sickness-filled, pleasure-seeking, addiction-prone, disasterous, moral-less world that doesn't KNOW that life exists in Jesus Christ; and Jesus Christ alone. We should feel horribly sorrowful for the dying people around us. But we don't. Sin is more discusting than any of us give it credit for. As John Piper says, "none of us are as discusted by our sin as we should be". I know I don't cry my eyes out because I'm sinful. I'm not that upset about it. I don't think about how disheartening and dishonoring it is to God. This is why we must be sorrowful.
We should always be rejoicing! Ah, the happy part of the verse. It's true! We should always rejoice that we are God's! He chose us! (Eph. 1)We were plucked out of the ground as a corpse and given life through Christ's death on the cross. Through grace by faith we have peace and salvation! We should rejoice that God is in control of our sorrowful situations. After all, He's the one who allows them to happen. Here's a puzzling truth: When God allowed sin to enter the world, He did not Himself sin. Piper says, if we cannot handle that, we cannot handle the cross. The cross was horrific evil and totally planned by the Almighty. Piper says we've got to have a category in our brain for God willing there to be sin and yet God not doing the sinning.
So, when someone says "Why would God allow this to happen" (ex: Katrina, War on Terror, 911...) You can say with a grin, "Because God planned the redemptive history of his people from the beginning of time and if we didn't have suffering, we would have no need of Him." Bam! Done! Shock em! It's the truth! We are characters in God's story of redemptive history. Just read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. and make sure you have kleenex!
Anyways, that's what was on my heart. :)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Pioneer Woman
Thank you Betty for showing me this website!
The Pioneer Woman has everything from cooking, gardening, skin care, homeschooling advice, photography, decorating and more. She is truly the super-woman-- dabbling in so many fun woman-adventures. I'm still mastering the whole clean-the-house-every-week thing. :) This wife thing is hard work!
Be sure to try the Bacon-Wrapped Jalopeno Thingies. :)
Enjoy!
The Pioneer Woman has everything from cooking, gardening, skin care, homeschooling advice, photography, decorating and more. She is truly the super-woman-- dabbling in so many fun woman-adventures. I'm still mastering the whole clean-the-house-every-week thing. :) This wife thing is hard work!
Be sure to try the Bacon-Wrapped Jalopeno Thingies. :)
Enjoy!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Just go away, pain.
You're about to hear my heart....are you ready?
We are so prone to run from anything that hurts. And moreover, we tend to think our trials are there so God can remove them "in Jesus name".
We aren't comfortable with suffering. We aren't content with pain. We don't delight in enduring the hard stuff. We're human. We're hedonists. We live for pleasure. It's super hard to "count it all joy when we face trials". But as Christians, we have to choose to be the opposite. We must believe that Christ's life, death and resurrection is an example of how to live.
Listen fellow believer, don't be fooled into believing that God intends a life of pleasure for you. Not that "every good and perfect gift is from above" is a lie. It is most certainly the truth. Every earthly possession we have is a gift from God; from our spouse to the food on the table at night. But what God intends for his children is a life modeled after his Son. A life full of humiliation, deprivation, and sanctification. (look up words you don't know later :))
I can't tell you how many examples of Christ I have come across in the past couple years that remind me of who my Savior is. I think of the single women in our church who are in their late 20s, early 30s and who are REJOICING in the honor of serving Christ through singlehood. The man in my church who has battled multiple myeloma for over 7 years and still gives every ounce of glory to God for his life. The women in our church who have experienced the deep pain of miscarriage but yet glorify God for His perfect will. I've watched a couple fight for their marriage after many nights of heartache and lonliness. And then I've seen that same couple pursue each other and rekindle their love (and are now with child). Every time someone in my life says, "i'm struggling so much but I know the Lord has a plan and I trust him" I tear up and say thank you Lord for broken, vulnerable people who know you are in control. Thank you for people who are after YOU being magnified and them being debased. His power is made perfect in our weakness.
Read Philippians 3:10-12
I'll end with a quote I got from Challies' Blog from Ligon Duncan talking about how our suffering is meant for the maturity of the church not just for us alone. A new perspective for sure. Be blessed and may Christ dwell in you richly!
"Your suffering does not just belong to you. You are members of a body. Your suffering is for the body's maturity as much as it is for your own. Your suffering is there to build up the church of Christ. It is there for the people of God to be given faith and hope and confidence in the hour of their trials. Your suffering is also the body's suffering because one of God's purposes in suffering is the maturity of the whole church." Ligon Duncan on Suffering for Christ.
We are so prone to run from anything that hurts. And moreover, we tend to think our trials are there so God can remove them "in Jesus name".
We aren't comfortable with suffering. We aren't content with pain. We don't delight in enduring the hard stuff. We're human. We're hedonists. We live for pleasure. It's super hard to "count it all joy when we face trials". But as Christians, we have to choose to be the opposite. We must believe that Christ's life, death and resurrection is an example of how to live.
Listen fellow believer, don't be fooled into believing that God intends a life of pleasure for you. Not that "every good and perfect gift is from above" is a lie. It is most certainly the truth. Every earthly possession we have is a gift from God; from our spouse to the food on the table at night. But what God intends for his children is a life modeled after his Son. A life full of humiliation, deprivation, and sanctification. (look up words you don't know later :))
I can't tell you how many examples of Christ I have come across in the past couple years that remind me of who my Savior is. I think of the single women in our church who are in their late 20s, early 30s and who are REJOICING in the honor of serving Christ through singlehood. The man in my church who has battled multiple myeloma for over 7 years and still gives every ounce of glory to God for his life. The women in our church who have experienced the deep pain of miscarriage but yet glorify God for His perfect will. I've watched a couple fight for their marriage after many nights of heartache and lonliness. And then I've seen that same couple pursue each other and rekindle their love (and are now with child). Every time someone in my life says, "i'm struggling so much but I know the Lord has a plan and I trust him" I tear up and say thank you Lord for broken, vulnerable people who know you are in control. Thank you for people who are after YOU being magnified and them being debased. His power is made perfect in our weakness.
Read Philippians 3:10-12
I'll end with a quote I got from Challies' Blog from Ligon Duncan talking about how our suffering is meant for the maturity of the church not just for us alone. A new perspective for sure. Be blessed and may Christ dwell in you richly!
"Your suffering does not just belong to you. You are members of a body. Your suffering is for the body's maturity as much as it is for your own. Your suffering is there to build up the church of Christ. It is there for the people of God to be given faith and hope and confidence in the hour of their trials. Your suffering is also the body's suffering because one of God's purposes in suffering is the maturity of the whole church." Ligon Duncan on Suffering for Christ.
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