So much sweet stuff tonight huh?
Well lets get to it shall we...
Why do you think John shared so much of his personal story @ the beginning of this entire series? What do you think about God placing a deep almost desperate longing for happiness in his life? Can this apply to your life at skool, home, relationships, church, circumstances, etc.
Are we sinning if we don't pursue the glory of God? Whatcha thinking, Blogger it!
So...just for you, What was your take home tonight? What is the application to change your life?
Just let us know how God gripped you tonight, everyone's thoughts are different.
Do you think God is unjust in forgiving us? Why or Why not?
Are we sinning if we don't pursue the glory of God? Whatcha thinking, Blogger it!
So...just for you, What was your take home tonight? What is the application to change your life?
Just let us know how God gripped you tonight, everyone's thoughts are different.
Did you know you help and encourage others when you slap your thoughts down???
You DO!
You DO!
Alright, enough for tonight, :)
-"God is most glorified in you, when you are most satisfied in Him."-J.P.
-James
-"God is most glorified in you, when you are most satisfied in Him."-J.P.
-James
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOh, and more stuff ;) (hey, if y'all put up a cite, April's bound to write, I apologize for anti-writer's block ;P )
ReplyDelete1) This whole Christian Hedonism thing (pursuing personal happiness) It's sounds good and stuff and makes sense, but how can we back up this view scripturally? How do we KNOW God wants us to be happy?
2)In practical ways, how can I be zealous for God?
April
ReplyDeleteI think you might be confusing some things. To be personal with God is not to be casual with him. Consider these facts...
#1 God is a personal God. He saved YOU personally, and in return we are to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
#2 Consider the apostles relationship with God. They knew Jesus Christ in a very personal way, they lived with him for 3 years. Yet when you read their writings about him they aren't casual, they are reverent. They are both personal with God and reverent towards him.
In other words, you don't disgrace God's glory by being personal with Him, you bring glory to Him by fulfilling one of His ultimate purposes for humanity: the purpose of communing with God. The feeling that you can't be personal/intimate with God is not a feeling from God, it is an evil lie, so don't trust that feeling.
Ok, I really confused...again. (sorry guys)
ReplyDeleteFirst, the facts we all agree on:
1 God is zealous about His Own glory
2 We are to be zealous about God's glory
3 we are to be happy, and persue happy
4 We are to be so at peace with God that when our head hit's the pillow we don't have a care in the world, but instead; peace.
Ok, now the problem:
I fear to be personal with God because I fear that that would be taking God to casually.
Yes, I know that makes NO sense, ;) read on:
I want to be zealous about God's glory. To do this I must hold him in high reverence, yes?
Well if I hold Him in high reverence, I get so intimidated by Him that I am afraid to talk to Him, afraid to be real and honest with Him. Because I fear that if I am, I might be being to causal with Him and by so doing, dishonor Him and fall short of His glory.
And because of that:
And if I can't be real with God than I can't be happy, my weary soul is too tortured between "I want to love God and me so near Him I can almost feel His embrace and bask in His love" and "I must not offend, I must not disappoint I must not disgrace His glory by being personal with Him"
And yet my mind reminds me that I am to call Him Abba "Dad" which is personal and intimate and beyond anything, what I WANT!
So how can I persue "happy" with a soul that feels that she cannot be personal/intimate with her Designer God?
Basically, what brings Glory to God? I know it's not "reverence to the point of never speaking" but i can't prove that to myself to put my soul at ease. If I believe that my mind will accuse me of taking the easy way out and not following logic.
OK, that's what I wanted to believe. I just I have this great talent of pessimistically deceiving myself :P
ReplyDeleteOh, and I deleted, editted and re-posted, that's was my question was after Josh's answer.
Tonight really got me thinking about some things I had never really thought about before. Like how God loves His own glory! That seems so selfish, yet that goes against His character! So it is with the right heart! I am not really sure, I still need to think about it more deeply, but before I forget I wanted to say at least that much!:)
ReplyDeleteOk, First of all, I want to say something to April...
ReplyDeleteOur God is a personal God!!!! No matter if we think like that or not!
He desires to have a friendship with us as shown in Job 29: 2
"How I long for the months gone by,
for the days when God watched over me,
3 when his lamp shone upon my head
and by his light I walked through darkness!
4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,
when God's intimate FRIENDSHIP blessed my house,
Now, look at the definition of the word Reverence.
the noun is "Having deep respect for someone, or something"
I don't know about you, but I love spending time with the people that I respect... It gives me the opportunity to learn so much!!!!
I wouldn't think that to show reverence to God you have to sever the ties you have with him.. That is not what God wants, he wants a relationship with us. So following that thought, if we are cutting that relationship short then we are not showing the respect that God wants from us. Make any sense?!?!?!?!?!
Ok, now for the rest of it :)
"what do you think about God placing a deep almost desperate longing for happiness in his life?"
I think that we never know how the struggles/longings that we have for now are going to shape who God wants us to be later.
I don't think if you would of told Piper when he was struggling with talking in front of people in the 10 th grade that he was going to be a book writer, preacher teacher etc... He would of believed you. It sounded like he probably would of laughed at you.
God works everything together for the GLORY of God...
Every struggle that we go through, if we go through it correctly is bringing glory to God...
Next point. God being unjust for forgiving us.
Yes, I think that in our eyes he would of been unjust, but he wanted to show us so bad that his love and forgiveness went so much deeper then that, that in order to protect his name, and Glory and so that we would see him as a just God, he sent his only son to take the punishment.... He is no longer unjust, but a righteous and just God!
Ok, I think that is all :)
Man, I missed y'all tonight! I tell you what would make me happy right about now... Being in Greenville. Does the Lord want me to be in Greenville? Hmm...
ReplyDeleteIt seems like a lot of the swirliness revolves around what we think about God, instead of what he thinks about us. Suspend, just for a minute, what you think of when you use words like "personal," "relationship," "friend," and think instead of what the Bible teaches about the Lord. The whole Bible. As much as you've read.
ReplyDeleteIn our Sunday morning class, someone brought up the difference between a contradiction and a paradox. I want to throw that in as a point of reference. Let's simply say that a contradiction is created from opposing things, and that a paradox is simply something that seems to defy reason.
One of the easiest traps that we fall into (and we all do) is to think about the Lord like he's a person. I mean a mortal man. The feelings, intentions, mentality, and all that go along with being a person.
But, you know that's not fair or true. So, if he's not a person like you, would the relationship and friendship and so on be like it is with people?
So, think about what you know the Bible says about the Lord. What it says about joy. What it says about hope. And peace. And reverence and fear and neediness and longing and desire... That's all human stuff. It's there and it's with us. But we can't think that our relationship with the creator of all things is like that. Can we?
Think about hunger. You can really reallly want to eat a Twinkie (or in my case, beef jerky) or you can really really want to eat a... uhm... a... carrot. You know why you want the Twinkie, and you know why you should want the carrot. Right?
So, how much do you love health food?
Now think about how you love your parents (and yeah, you all do). That's not like food at all. Totally different. But we can think about them all like basic human desires, longings, feelings. But they're different.
I've got to stop for a bit. It's my RLS...
I love it!
ReplyDeleteWe have stumbled upon an age old issue, kicking way back to old school days...
The biblical balance of "Relationship" and "Religion" is one of many ways to put it.
April, Josh, Laura, R.J. & Will-Great stuff, as good as that 1st taste of biblical ice cream!
I am reminded of a verse that Rock my perception on the "Relationship" & "Reverence" words as it relates to our Faith in Christ,
Micah 6:8 "8 He has showed you, O man,what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God."
SWEEET BABY!!!
Doesn't get much more straight forward than than, What does the Lord require of us?
To Act Justly...O.K., To love Mercy..Alright..
But here's the kicker that ties it all together and makes Our God, the true God set apart from other gods and religions...
To walk humbly with our God!!!! We get to walk with our Savior, our God-as much as we can. Minute by minute, always and forever. What!-did He just say that, that is what God requires from us?
YES.
Just have to say, I think Will is spot on when it comes to our perception of our unimaginable Lord verses His perception of His Creation made in His image! (which by the way His image is rocking!)
At the end of the day, Seek Him 1st and all will be added friends! I struggle as well with the two biblical principles laid before us but take heart and cast these intellectual concerns upon your refuge and lover, Christ Jesus.
Further study; check out all the names God has for himself in the bible-may help as it relates to this issue? Not a contradiction but a paradox.
-James
WOW that's a lot of questions and even more comments!!!! I LOVED last night's worship through listening to God's Word and what He had to say through John Piper. First of all, is God even unjust??? I don't think so....If He were an unjust God there would be no reason for Him to have sent His Son to die for us...He could have just unjustly forgiven us forever. But that's not who God is.
ReplyDeletesecond...in order to pursue something, you have to take action. so if you are pursuing God's glory, you have to take action. And any action that does not glorify God is sin, right? so if you aren't pursuing God's glory, then you are sinning.
Like James said, the message was full of good meat and i am EATING IT UP!!!!....i only wish that my sin nature didn't keep me from enjoying the full course.
that's all i got for now...talk to you guys later!!