This 31-day devotional by John Piper has some great things to ponder! Piper introduces the book in this thought-provoking way:
The Son of God is not a vapor. He is solid reality, with no beginning and no
ending. His name is Jesus Christ. He is the same yesterday and today and forever.
He looked his disciples in the eye and said without irony or exaggeration, ‘Before
Abraham was, I am.’
But what about us? Once we were not, and now we exist? With the conception
of all five of our children, that stunned me. Suddenly my wife is pregnant. A human
has come into being. For how long? Forever. Either in heaven or in hell. There is no
going out of existence. For that would not be joy for those who love God nor
punishment for those who don’t.
You exist forever. There is no use protesting that you did not ask to exist
and would like not to. That is not an option. You and God are both in the universe
to stay – either as friends on His terms, or enemies.
Which it will be is proven in this life. And this life is a vapor. Two seconds,
and we will be gone – to heaven or to hell. ‘As for man, his days are like grass; he
flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone.’
(Psalm 103:15-16 ESV)
Jesus Christ came into this world – this fleeting, fallen, fickle world – and
did the greatest thing that will ever be done. As the perfect Son of God, He died
in our place, absorbed the wrath of God, paid the penalty for sin, provided the
righteousness of the law, and rose invincible from the dead – all in a vapor’s life
of thirty-three years.
Because of that, we have something firm to grasp. ‘Surely the people are
grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand
forever.’ (Isaiah 40:7-8 ESV) The gospel is firm and lasts forever. My prayer is that
these meditations on the Word of God will link you with eternal joy, and make
the vapor of your life an everlasting aroma of praise to the glory of Christ.
John Piper
In light of recent events just hours away from us in Haiti, these words carry much more weight with me all of a sudden. In the blink of an eye, the world around us can change. What am I doing that will last forever? Am I consumed with trivial things that will crumble and fall around me? Or am I consumed by my relationship with Christ, which will last forever?
“The gospel is firm and lasts forever.” May this be the thing that drives me each day. “The gospel is firm and lasts forever.” May this root itself in my heart and ooze out of me in every interaction and conversation with every person I come in contact with each day. “The gospel is firm and lasts forever.” May my own life-changing encounter with the gospel be that which others see and are drawn to in my life.
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 8:11 am and is filed under Missionary's View, Rodriguez Family Blog (Smiles For Jesus), General, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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