January 24, 2011

the bottom

as Beth said in her first talk"God will blow your mind". God used John Piper to do just that. He opened with this question...

Do you feel more loved by God because He makes much of you or because He enables you, through Christ, to make much of Him?

at the base of what makes me happy is who i am. feeling loved and being happy becuase God makes much of me is idolatry. i have to remove myself and place Christ at the base of what makes me happy. God is the source by which all other desires and delight come. new birth is having Christ at the bottom. i am a new creation (2 cor 5:17), so can i truly say that Christ is my base? is the deepest joy in my life making much of Him?

He loves me with the specific design that He be made much of. Piper highlighted six ways that God makes much of me...

1: by being pleased with me through Jesus
2: by making me a fellow heir with Jesus who inherits everything (rom 4:13, matt 5, 1 cor 3:21)
3: by having us sit at the table when Christ returns as if we are the master and He is the servant--He serves us!! (luke 12:37ff)
4: by appointing us to carry out the judgment of angels
5: by ascribing value to us and rejoicing over us as His treasured possession (matt 10:31, zeph 3:17)
6: by granting me to sit with Christ on His throne (rev 3:21)

to be frank, if you're in the "love to be made much of" camp, you're not born again. God loves me in such a way that makes Him my supreme treasure and it is a greater love than if He made me my own supreme treasure. or think of it this way. if i'm on the bottom as the base for what makes me happy, i bear all the weight. only God can bear the weight of all the joy i want to have. to see, enjoy, know, & show  Him is my life. endless Jesus.

"God loves you so much and you're so precious to Him that He will not let your preciousness become your god." -John Piper


live unashamedly :: laugh uncontrollably :: love unconditionally.

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