Ulysses vs. Jason

as some of you know, one of my most favorite books is called "One Thing" by Sam Storms. And this is a part of the book I go back to time and time again. I hope it is encouraging to you...A little context: Sam's main idea of the book is that if/when we see God for Who He is (a beautiful, amazing, all powerful God) then we will be captured and captivated by Him, His grace and His beauty, so that sin will be an easy opponent...it will not really even be tempting to us because it is not attractive to us in light of the beauty of Christ. So now, for the quote:

When temptation comes knocking, what good is grandiose talk of beauty and splendor and the God of quarks and quasars?

The answer is found in a story that could change your life. It's about one mysterious island, two heroic men, and a host of 'women' whose beauty was quite literally skin-deep. But mostly its about radically different perspectives on the nature of Christianity and living to the glory of God.

...I've told this story many times...Don't be put off that it comes from Greek mythology. The point it makes is thoroughly biblical.

The first of our two characters is well known to most. Some call him Odysseus, others Ulysses. When I hear his name I close my eyes and envision the craggy features and dimpled chin of Kirk Douglass, the actor who portrayed him in the film version of our story...Ulysses was a devoted husband to his wife, Penelope, adored his son, and agonized at leaving his home of Ithaca. But he was also a Greek, and duty called.

Paris, the prince of Troy, had stolen away helen, the woman 'whose face launched a thousand ships'. She was the wife of Menalaus, the king of Greece. He, together with his brother Agamemnon, Ulysses, and a a mighty Greek army undertook the daunting task of recapturing her and restoring dignity to their beloved land.

To make a long story short, hidden in the belly of a huge Trojan horse, Ulysses and his men gained access to the city, slaughtered its inhabitants, and rescued the captive Helen. But the return voyage to Ithaca, which lasted nearly a decade, would prove to be far more challenging.

...My fascination...has always been with the infamous Sirens. Countless were the unwitting sailors who, on passing by their island, succumbed to the outward beauty of the sirens and their seductively irresistible songs. Once lured close to shore, their oats crashed on the hidden rocks lurking beneath the surface of the sea. These demonic cannibals whose alluring disguise and mesmerizing melodies had drawn them close wasted little time in savagely consuming their flesh.

Ulysses had been repeatedly warned about the Sirens and their lethal hypocrisy. Upon reaching their island, he ordered his crew to put wax in their ears lest they be lured to their ultimate demise. He commanded them to look neither to the left nor right but to row for their lives. Ulysses had other plans for himself. he instructed his men to strap him to the mast of the ship, leaving his ears unplugged. 'I want to hear their song. Not matter what I say or do, don't untie me until we are safely at a distance from the island.'

The songs of the Sirens were more than Ulysses' otherwise strong will could resist. He was utterly seduced byt heir sound and mesmerized by the promise of immediate gratification. One Siren even took on the form of Penelope, Ulysses' wife, seeking to lure him closer on the delusion that he had finally arrived home. Were it not for the ropes that held him tightly to the mast, Ulysses would have succumbed to their invitation. Although his hands were restrained, his heart was captivated by their beauty. Although his souls said 'Yes', the ropes prevented his indulgence. His 'no' was not the fruit of a spontaneous revulsion but the product of an external shackle.

Ulysses' encounter with the Sirens, together with his strategy for resisting their appeal, is all to similar to the way many Christians try to live as followers of Jesus Christ. Like him, their hearts pant for the passing pleasures of sin. Their wills are no match for the magnetic power of sensual indulgence. Although they understand what it at stake, they struggle through life saying 'no' to sin, not because their souls are ill-disposed to evil, but because their hands have been shackled by the laws and rules imposed by an oppressive religious atmosphere. It is the extra-biblical taboo that comes thundering form a legalistic pulpit or a long-standing denominational prohibition that accounts for their external complicity. Their obedience is not the glad product
of a transformed nature, but a reluctant conformity born of fear and shame.

I have no desire to live that way. Neither do you, I suspect. So, how do you account for your 'obedience'? Is it the expression of your deepest heart-felt joy? Is it the product of a passion that spontaneously and urgently springs from the depths of your being? Or are you firmly bound to the mast of religious expectations, all the while yearning for the opposite of what you actually do? What is the most effective scheme for confronting the sinful sounds of Sirens?

A Sweeter Song
Jason, like Ulysses, was himself a character of ancient mythology, perhaps best known for his pursuit of the famous Golden Fleece. Again, like Ulysses, he faced the temptation posed by the sonorous tones of the Sirens. But his solution was of a different sort. Jason brought with him on the treacherous journey a man named Orpheus, the son of Oeager. Orpheus was a musician of incomparable talent, especially on the lyre and flute. When his music filled the air it had an enchanting effect on all who heard. There was not a lovelier or more melodious sound in all the ancient world.

When it came time, Jason declined to plug the ears of his crew. Neither did he strap himself to the mast to restrain his otherwise lustful yearning for whatever pleasures the Sirens might offer. But this was not the reckless decision of an arrogant heart. Jason had no illusions about the strength of his will or his capacity to be deceived. He was no less determined than Ulysses to resist the temptations of the sirens. But he chose a different strategy.

He ordered Orpheus to play his most beautiful and alluring songs. The sirens didn't stand a chance! Notwithstanding their collective allure, Jason and his men paid no heed to the Sirens. They were not in the least inclined to succumb. Why? Was it that the Sirens had ceased to sing? Was it that they had lost their capacity to entice the human heart? Not at all. Jason and his men said 'no' because they were captivated by a transcendent sound. The music of Orpheus was of an altogether different and exalted nature. Jason and his men said 'no' to the sounds of the sirens because they had heard something far more sublime. They had tasted something far sweeter. They had encountered something far more noble.

For many people Christianity is a tedious and ultimately unsatisfying aversion to temptations they would much prefer to indulge. Nothing depresses me more than to think of expending my one life on earth merely suppressing my deepest desires, always acting contrary to what my soul continues to crave. But there is little hope of it being otherwise, so long as I seek satisfaction in something other than God.

Here is my point, both in this story and in the book as a whole. I don't want simply to live the Christian life. I want to love living the Christian life. Ulysses may have survived the sounds of the Sirens. But only Jason triumphed over them. Yes, both men 'obeyed' (in a manner of speaking). Neither succumbed. Neither indulged his desires. Both men escaped the danger at hand. But only one was changed.

Who But Christ?

I love thumbing through the book "The Loveliness of Christ" which is a collection of extracts from letters written by Samuel Rutherford. There are so many powerful quotes in this book. Here is one which has become one of my favorites:

I beseech you in the Lord Jesus, beware, beware of unsound work, in the matter of your salvation: ye may not, ye cannot, ye do not want Christ. Then after this day, convene all your lovers before your soul; and give them their leave, and strike hands with Christ, that thereafter there may be no happiness to you but Christ; no hunting for anything but Christ; no bed at night (when death cometh) but Christ; Christ, Christ, who but Christ? I know this much of Christ, He is not so ill to be found, not lordly of His love; woe had been my part of it for evermore, if Christ had made a dainty of Himself to me; but God be thanked, I gave nothing for Christ; and now I protest, before men and angels, Christ cannot be exchanged; Christ cannot be sold, Christ cannot be weighed.

...and now I protest, before men and angels, Christ cannot be exchanged; Christ cannot be sold, Christ cannot be weighed.

Can I say the same? Truly, I gave nothing for Christ. I had (and still have) nothing to give! It is only because salvation is a free gift that I now have it. But, now that I do have it, can I honestly say, and protest before men and angels, that I will not exchange Christ for anything? That I will not sell Christ for any price? That no thing, no matter how great, how alluring, or attractive, can outweigh Christ and His beauty? I know that these things are true, but does my life and the way I live moment by moment prove that my heart believes these truths?

Packer on Knowing God

this is an excerpt from J. I. Packer's book Knowing God...

I walked in the sunshine with a scholar who had effectively forfeited his prospects of academic advancement by clashing with church dignitaries over the gospel of grace. 'But it doesn't matter,' he said..., 'for I have known God and they haven't.' This remark was a mere parenthesis, a passing comment on something I had said, but it has stuck with me, and set me thinking.

Not many of us, I think, would ever naturally say that we have known God. The words imply a definiteness and matter-of-fact-ness of experience to which most of us, if we are honest, have to admit that we are still strangers. We claim, perhaps, to have a testimony, ...we say that we know God--this, after all, is what evangelicals are expected to say; but would it occur to us to say, without hesitation, and with reference to particular events in our personal history, that we have known God?...

I think, [rather, that] many of us [would never] naturally say (in the light of the knowledge of God which we have come to enjoy) that past dissappointments and present heartbreaks...don't matter. For the plain fact is that...they do matter. ...Constantly we find ourselves slipping into bitterness and apathy and gloom as we reflect on them, which we frequently do. The attitude we show to the world is a sort of dried-up stoicism, miles removed from the 'joy unspeakable and full of glory' which Peter took for granted that his readers were displaying (1 Peter 1:8).

...But...those who really know God...never brood on might-have-beens; they never think of the things they have missed, only of what they have gained. 'What things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ,' wrote Paul. 'Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as dung, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him...that I may know Him...' (Phil. 3:7-10) When Paul says he counts the things he lost 'dung', he means not merely that he does not think of them as having any value, but also that he does not live with them constantly in his mind: what normal person spends his time nostalgically dreaming of manure? Yet this, in effect, is what many of us do. It shows how little we have in the way of true knowledge of God.

We need frankly to face ourselves at this point. ...We can [perhaps] state the gospel clearly...If anyone asks us how men may know God, we can at once produce the right formula...Yet the joy, goodness, and unfetteredness of spirit which are the marks of those who have known God are rare among us--rarer, perhaps, than they are in some other Christian circles, where, by comparison, evangelical truth is less clearly and fully known. Here, too, it would seem that the last may prove to be first, and the first last. A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about Him.

As Christians, do we know God? Do we seek to know Christ? Can we say, unhesitatingly, that we have known Him? And do the attitudes, actions and emotions that characterize our lives PROVE that we do truly know Christ?

Cotton Candy

The following story was inspired by a sermon illustration I heard several years ago...

The sun was beaming through the puffy white clouds as the Mills family pulled their blue Grand Caravan into the parking lot at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. This was a day they had been looking forward to for the past month. As they waited in line for their tickets the kids were discussing which ride they would go on first. Emily wanted to go on the Log Ride. Her father, John, suggested they wait until the warmer part of the day so they would be able to dry off without getting too cold in the process. Their mom, Karen, suggested they could hit the Log Ride just before lunch so they could dry off as they ate. The two younger ones, Cathryn and Andrew, wanted to go on Tsunami first. They loved spinning in their cars and Andrew especially enjoyed it when the ride went backwards at the end. So, Tsunami it was.

Throughout the day the kids got to go on any ride they wanted, play any of the carnival-type games, and they even got $5 for tokens at the Arcade. For lunch they could choose to eat whatever they wanted at any of the different restaurants or food carts. This was a day for family fun and enjoyment. The kids laughed and played all day. They had the time of their lives.

As the sun was slipping down into the Pacific Ocean, the family began their walk back to the car, hand in hand, recalling the exciting moments of the day.
"Remember when we went down the last hill on the Log Ride and Dad ducked right as the water splashed up and it hit me right in the face?!" said Cathryn, "that was fun!"
"My favorite part was when the guy on the bumper cars let me stay on three times in a row!" Andrew recalled with a smile on his face. "Hey, look Dad, cotton candy! Can I pleeease have some?"
John thought about it for a second--they were on their way to the car, Andrew probably wouldn't finish the cotton candy by the time they drove away, and even if he did his hands would be sticky and most likely get the candy's stickiness all over the seat, belt buckle and anything else Andrew touched.
"No, son, no cotton candy tonight."
They continued on and made it to their van as the parking lot lights were flickering on.
"Well, kids, did you enjoy your day?"
"Yeah, dad, thanks for taking us!" Emily said.
Cathryn was quick to follow, "Thanks, Dad! It was great!"
"How about you, Andrew, did you have a good time?"
"Well....no," came the response.
"No? Well, why not? Didn't we go on Tsunami first like you wanted? It looked like you enjoyed your corn dog and funnel cake you had for lunch. And you beat me four times on that car racing game! Why didn't you have a good time?"
"'Cause I didn't get any cotton candy," Andrew said, pouting.

"Son, I did not withhold anything from you all day long. I let you do anything you asked during all of the eight hours we were here today. You did politely ask for the cotton candy, but son, cotton candy is very sticky and we need to take good care of our car. Having sticky cotton candy hands inside the car would not be a good thing."

"But Dad! I could have cleaned them off!"

"Son, that is not the point. The point is that I wanted you to have a fun day. That is why we came here as a family. Your mother and I planned this day especially for the three of you because we know how much you like to come here. But if you choose to focus on the one thing you did not get, and you ignore all the many pleasures you enjoyed throughout the day, then of course you will not have a good time. Son, in life so often we experience many many blessings that are gifts from God, but if we ignore His blessings and instead spend our time complaining about the problems that we encounter and the things we do not get, we will miss out on rejoicing for all the good God has given to us in our lives. In the same way, Andrew, you have decided that your day was not a good day simply because you did not get cotton candy in the last few minutes of an otherwise exciting day. Son, when you have all these things, why do you complain about not having cotton candy?"

revealed

"What of God it is needful and beneficial for us to know, He has revealed in Christ, and whatsoever is not there, we may rest assured it is unfit and unnecessary for us to know. Truly the revelation is by no means scant, for there is vastly more revealed in the person of Christ than we shall be likely to learn in this mortal life, and even eternity will not be too long for the discovery of all the glory of God which shines forth in the person of the word made flesh, Those who would supplement Christianity had better first add to the brilliance of the sun or the fullness of the sea. As for us, we are more than satisfied with the revelation of God in the person of our Lord Jesus, and we are persuaded of the truth of His words 'he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.'"

~C. H. Spurgeon

5 martyrs

just about done reading "Through Gates of Spendor" by Elisabeth Elliot. I highly recommend it, it's a quick read and a great book. i only have the two epilogues left to go...which look really good, i started reading the second one but figured i should stop since it's getting late. but i wanted to share these quotes with you...

"Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God." ~Jim Elliot

"Obedience is not a momentary option; it is a diecast decision made beforehand." ~Nate Saint

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." ~Jim Elliot

"When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die." ~Jim Elliot

"That is the most beautiful little cemetery in the world."
~Marj Saint after being flown over the martyrs' common grave

"We look forward to the day when these savages will join us in Christian praise." ~Elisabeth Elliot

The book finishes with this excerpt from Jim Elliot's journal:

    I walked out to the hill just now. It is exalting, delicious, to stand embraced by the shadows of a friendly tree with the wind tugging at your coattail and the heavens hailing your heart, to gaze and glory and give oneself again to God--what more could a man ask? Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth! I care not if I never raise my voice again for Him, if only I may love Him, please Him. Mayhap in mercy He shall give me a host of children that I may lead them through the vast star fields to explore His delicacies whose finger ends set them to burning. But if not, if only I may see Him, touch His garments, and smile into His eyes--ah then, not stars nor children shall matter, only Himself.
    O Jesus, Master and Center and End of all, how long before that Glory is thine which has so long waited Thee? Now there is no thought of Thee among men; then there shall be though for nothing else. Now other men are praised; then none shall care for any other's merits. Hasten, hasten, Glory of Heaven, take Thy crown, subdue Thy Kingdom, enthrall Thy creatures."

resist

as most of you know, i successfully lacerated my spleen while snowboarding a week and a half ago. i haven't been able to do much, not even read or journal 'cause the pain meds i was on made me a bit loopy and when i tried to write i would see double.

thankfully the pain has gone down and i haven't had to take as many pills (it's also a good thing that i haven't had to use so many 'cause i only have one left!), and now my brain is functioning more normally and my eyes can see straight!

so, i was able to get some reading done yesterday. i'm still reading "pleasures evermore" which i've been on for about the past year and a half (haven't had much time for personal reading)...but i only have like 60 pages left! w00t! here're some notable quotes i read yesterday:

"If [God] didn't love you, if His heart wasn't for you, why would He care what you do?" (p.228)

"What are all these rationalizations [of why it's okay to sin] based on? One lie. The most pernicious, heinous, satanic lie of all. They are based on the lie that God really isn't good after all; that God is neither able nor willing to do for our souls or bodies what they so desperately need done; that therefore God can't be trusted with our fears and doubts and hopes and hurts. Because God doesn't care and can't be trusted, we'll find satisfaction somewhere else. And so often, we do." (p.233)

"The reason we resist God's laws and pursue our own sinful strategies is because we believe that we can do better at securing our happiness than God can." (p.237)

get

I believe we have a common misunderstanding of worship today. A number of years ago I played percussion in a worship band. As a band, we wanted to lead the congregation in singing Chris Tomlin's song "Enough". The man who oversaw our group (an elder in the church, I believe, and a man whom I highly respect and admire) did not approve of the song, however, because he felt it focused not on God, but on us. Here are the lyrics:

All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

You are my supply
My breath of life
And still more awesome than I know
You are my reward
worth living for
And still more awesome than I know

All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

You're my sacrifice
Of greatest price
And still more awesome than I know
You're the coming King
You are everything
And still more awesome than I know

More than all I want
More than all I need
You are more than enough for me
More than all I know
More than all I can say
You are more than enough for me

Enough
Chris Tomlin

I disagreed at the time but I couldn't quite explain why. Today I read an email from a friend who recently had an encounter with someone who had the same sort of response to the song "Enough". This person was convinced that this song was not a Christian song because it never says "Jesus" or "God". Where is the focus?

Let me now explain the title of this blog and say something that may seem to be somewhat ludicrous. Get. Worship should be a time where we come to get from God. Yes, get from God. I believe that God receives glory when we *get* from Him. I believe that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

I've been reading a book for quite a while now (slowly but hopefully surely) called "Pleasures Evermore" (the title is taken from Psalm 16:11). And the part I am reading now has helped me to understand why I disagreed when I was told that the song "Enough" focuses too much on us and not enough on God.

The book exposes the common misconception we have of worship: that we come to *give* God something. How deceived can we be? Do we seriously think *we* can *give* anything to God? He owns everything! Do we think we can give Him glory? What? Does He lack any glory?! No! He is infinitely glorious!

Sam Storms (the author of the book) tells us that we need to come to God empty and hungry! Psalm 107:9 says, "For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good." How can we be satisfied if we are not thirsty? How can we be filled with what is good when we are not hungry? If we come to worship to give, it would seem that we plan to leave worship with less. Would it not?

But, if, on the other hand, we come to worship empty, needy, thirsty, hungry, and we come to God, crying out to Him that He is MORE than enough for ALL of our thirsts and ALL of our needs, will not the Giver of all good gifts (Matt. 17:11, James 1:17) fill, satisfy and meet all our needs? And when people see that it is He who is the giver, the one who blesses, the one who gives strength to the weak, the lover of our souls, the one who satisfies even the deepest longings of our soul...when people see that THIS is who our God is, then they will see how good He truly is and HE will be the one, who ultimately, gets all the glory and all the praise.

Point people to Christ. Show them that He is the one who satisfies. Worship to get.

desire

for the last couple years or so i've considered myself a "Christian Hedonist". some people who are older than me find that term offensive or crude. i don't really blame them. in the past the term "hedonist" was used a lot and understood to relate to people who sought sexual pleasure at any cost. the true definition of the term is simply "a person whose life is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification" (dictionary.com). so, it's not strictly related to sexual pleasure, instead it's the general pursuit of pleasure.

the duo of Sam Storms ("one thing" and "pleasures evermore") and John Piper (mostly his sermon "Quest: Joy; Found: Christ") convinced me of the truth of Christian Hedonism. Basically it's based on the observation that all people pursue pleasure. all people. no matter who you are. ultimately, the thing you are pursuing is pleasure. that's how we are wired. you can try to deny it, but the reason you'd try to deny that you seek pleasure is so that you can be humble, perhaps because God called you to be humble. and why do we humble ourselves? because we are following Him. and why do we follow Him? so that we can enter His presence for eternity. and Psalm 16:11 tells us that in His presence is fullness of joy, at His right hand are pleasures evermore (see also James 4:10).

even in Matthew 16 where Christ tells us to deny ourselves...denying yourself is NOT the ultimate goal. look at the passage again. the ultimate goal is to find your life, to preserve your life, to have eternal life. which, again, ends in pleasures evermore.

I also see it ALL over the Scriptures. Most notably Psalm 119. I love Psalm 119. William Wilberforce had this Psalm memorized (all 176 verses) and would recite it as he walked to and from work. I want the same attitude this psalmist had.

Recently I was introduced to Jimmy Needham. An amazing musician with a HEART (desire) for Christ. His songs are amazing and chock-full of allusions to Scripture. Check out the first verse to his song "For Freedom" (itself an allusion to Gal. 5:1)

oh to be
delighted by You
and to see
the colors of
Your Train
and to be
freed by You
it would be
it would be
it would be
my claim to fame
so rejoice my friend
because my friend
you've got a Friend indeed
yeaaaha....
it is for freedom He set us free.

Jimmy Needham
"For Freedom"

"oh to be, delighted by You" is my desire. my hope. my aim. as i grow, i am more and more convinced that the more i fall in love with Christ, the more i am delighted by Him, the more i find my pleasure in Him...then i will realize how pale and even putrid sin is. often times sin looks good to us. but, as Sam Storms says in his book "Pleasures Evermore", "Sin becomes ugly and is subject to defeat only when viewed in light of Christ's beauty."

my desire is to fall in love with Christ. to find my pleasure in Him.

look how beautiful our God is...

"the colors of Your train" is an allusion to Isaiah 6 where we see "the train of His robe filling the temple", a magnificent picture of our God. the colors would be a picture of the beauty and multifaceted-ness (that's a word, right?) of God's glory. A train is a picture of royalty. The bigger a king's train, the more majestic and royal he is. Our God's train FILLS the temple. not just any temple. this is the temple in Heaven, the temple of the one, true, Creator God! His train is HUGE, a picture of His superior royalty and grandeur.

He is worthy. i pray that i would be delighted by Him, that i would open my eyes to see Him. and when i see Him as He truly is...how can i not respond by pursuing Him with everything i have?

savor

here's a quote I came up with while reading through "Pleasures Evermore" by Sam Storms (great book, i recommend it):

Savoring the sweetness of the Savior turns sin sour in our souls.

It's only through realizing who Christ is and what He has done for us and How much He loves us etc. etc. etc. that we will truly become dead to sin and have no desire for it.

do not i love Thee?

i was reminded today of this song. i was thinking about God and how He needs to be the object of my affections. how He needs to be the love of my life. how if i don't first love Him then nothing else is worth my attention or interest. i was preparing for a study tomorrow with the high school guys, and one of the questions was, "What will it take in your life to make your devotional time with God the number one priority of each day? Do you need to cut back or eliminate some competing activity?" What in my life is competing with God for my attention? for my affections? for my love? for my passions? whatever i find that does this, i need to pluck out or cut off ( Matthew 5:29-30).

Do not I love Thee, O my Lord?
Behold my heart and see
And turn each cursed idol out
That dares to rival Thee

Do not I love Thee from my soul?
Then let me nothing love
Dead be my heart to every joy
When Jesus cannot move

Within the darkness of this heart
Other gods would vie for my affections
But Thou art exalted far above all gods
Let nothing keep me from Thy love

Thou know'st I love Thee, dearest Lord
But, oh, I long to soar
Far from the sphere of mortal joys
And learn to love Thee more

This song was adapted by a hymn written by Phil­ip Dod­dridge, pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in Hymns Found­ed on Var­i­ous Texts in the Ho­ly Scrip­t­ures, by Job Or­ton (J. Ed­dowes and J. Cot­ton, 1755) The original hymn and lyrics can bee seen here. (fair warning: watch out! there's a bad midi file that will play on that page. I'm not familiar with that melody, the way the above words are sung, as I remember, is a lot better than the tune heard on that page, but the words there are good!)

trough or spring?

I read this amazing quote today:

God has no needs that I could ever be required to satisfy. God has no deficiencies that I might be required to supply. He is complete in Himself. He is overflowing with happiness in the fellowship of the Trinity. The upshot of this is that God is a mountain spring, not a watering trough. A mountain spring is self-replenishing. It constantly overflows and supplies others. But a watering trough needs to be filled with a pump or bucket brigade. So if you want to glorify the worth of a watering trough you work hard to keep it full and useful. But if you want to glorify the worth of a spring you do it by getting down on your hands and knees and drinking to your heart's satisfaction, until you have the refreshment and strength to go back down into the valley and tell people what you've found. You do not glorify a mountain spring by dutifully hauling water up the path from the river below and dumping it in the spring. What we have seen is that God is like a mountain spring, not a watering trough. And since that is the way God is, we are not surprised to learn from Scripture...that the way to please God is to come to Him to get and not to give, to drink and not to water. He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied [by] Him.

hi dadMy hope as a desperate sinner, who lives in a Death Valley desert of unrighteousness, hangs on this biblical truth: that God is the kind of God who will be pleased with the one thing I have to offer--my thirst.

[John Piper, The Pleasures of God, pp. 215-216]
emphasis mine

a recent conversation

a: your girlfriend is cool...what do you like about her?

b: a lot of things...that she is a christian and reads the bible for one and she's nice and sweet and cute and fun to be around and hang out with.

a: would you say she encourages you to read the bible and live as a christian?

b: yup definitely

a: here's a question...i want to get an idea of what people think about this: what would you say is the reason for living how God wants us to live? (and you can't say "so we go to heaven" or "so we don't go to hell")

b: Well i'm not sure...so we don't feel empty because without the bible and god and everything what's the point of life? and i guess its better for the world and people around you if we all did good and didn't do bad then it would be amazing...i'm not sure what the answer to that question is.

a: I think that's a pretty good answer. you basically said that without God there is no purpose to live. so what you're saying is that God gives purpose to live. what do you think that purpose is?

b: i'm not sure of that either to believe in God and follow Him to live your life serving others and do only good...???

a: let me ask it this way: do you believe God created you?

b: yes

a: and do you believe that he created you for a reason or for no reason?

b: for a reason i guess

a: So as God created you (and all of us) He had a purpose in mind. He had a reason for making us, an end goal. Jus as an artist begins to create a painting for a reason. why do artists create?

b: so they can observe and admire their work...???

a: YES! exactly. so they can get pleasure from their work. that's why i believe God created us: so He could observe and admire His work. He created us for His pleasure.

b: ok, so then, what's our purpose?

a: To please Him. to be a painting that He is satisfied with. AND think of this: what does an artist do with a painting he is pleased with?

b: shares it with others

a: Sure, he shares it with others. think of it like this: if God is the artist and we are the painting and we turn out like God wants us to (He wants to be pleased by us, He wants us to be beautiful paintings) then He is going to be pleased by us and put us on display in the art gallery. and if paintings could feel, i'm sure they'd be happier on the wall in the art gallery than in a back room waiting to be thrown away because the artist was not pleased by the painting. ...what i'm trying to say is that when we please God then He is pleased with us and put us in a place where we are also pleased. so everyone (both God and us) is pleased when we live how He wants us to live! (did all that make sense? :) )

b: yup, makes perfect sense...that's cool

a: I just kinda put those thoughts together right now. I've been reading a couple of books that talk about that but I've never really put it all together like that. thanks for letting me reason with you and think that all out :)

b: sure, thanks for doing it

first love

When I think of all I’ve seen
Nothing compares
to what You give
And to drink of what You bring
You quench the thirst
for me to live
I am satisfied by what
tenderness You’ve shown
to me
and I empty all that I am

And You fill
my life
You’re everything to me
And there’s nothing else I need anymore
And I know You
are everything to me
And there’s nothing else I need anymore

I have tasted and I know
this fire birthed inside
will only grow
And I’ve sought all that this world
tried to offer me
and it lead me to Your feet
And I empty all that I am

And You fill
my life
You’re everything to me
And there’s nothing else I need anymore
And I know You
are everything to me
And there’s nothing else I need anymore

I will lay down all my needs
and You will come and make them new
to make You my only desire
my desire

And You fill
my life
You’re everything to me
everything to me
And You fill my life
You’re everything to me
And there’s nothing else I need anymore
And I know You
are everything to me
And there’s nothing else I need anymore
There’s nothing else I need...
~Jeremy Camp - "Nothing Else I Need"

I like that idea: empty all you are and He will fill you.
God needs to be our first love. He needs to be the source from where we obtain our joy and our fulfillment.

A student was talking to me tonight about video games and he mentioned that one game he has been playing a lot has been getting boring. I pointed out the fact that we need to make God the source of our joy because He is infinite. He is never-ending. We can find out 10,000 new things about God every day and after a thousand years we will not have begun to exhaust the vastness of His character. There will forever be more aspects and facets and attributes of God to discover. Video games are finite, everything besides God is finite and thus will only satisfy us for as long as it takes us to explore that thing fully. Then we will no longer be satisfied and will desire more...something else. Desire God! Be satisfied in Him! He is everything you need! He needs to be our one desire, our goal, our first love.

education

i love this book "one thing" by Sam Storms. Here's a quote from page 81-2:

I earlier spoke of the relationship between celebration and elevation or between exultation and exaltation and argued that the former in each case is both a prelude to and grounds for the latter. There is, however, one additional stage in our experience that is antecedent to both exultation and exaltation, namely, education.

If we don't know who God is and how He thinks and what He feels and why He does what He does, we have no grounds for joy, no reason to celebrate, no basis for finding satisfaction in Him...Delight in God cannot occur in an intellecutal vacuum. Our joy is the fruit of what we know and believe to be true of God.

What this tells us is that the ultimate goal of theology [the study of God] isn't knowledge, but worship. If our learning and knowledge of God do not lead to the joyful praise of God, we have failed. We learn only that we might laud, which is to say that theology without doxology is idolatry.

...What beauty! What transcendent glory! As for its depth, unfathomable. As for its duration, unending. As for its degree, immeasurable. As for its description, ineffable. This is a perpetual spiritual high from which you need never come down.

pleasures

my parents just got back from down south. they were at the Shepherd's Conference that my dad attended. They saw a book there and figured I'd like it. It's called "One Thing" by Sam Storms. It's one of those books that you say "Oh, I'll just read the introduction for tonight" and then you end up reading and reading and forget that you hadn't eaten dinner. (Don't worry, I got up and had a banana and a cookie...i'm all set.)

Well then I took a break to write this down 'cause I just read the coolest quote ever. Ok, here it is:

Christianity forbids us no pleasures, save those that lead to temporal misery and eternal woe.

So true

Cool. You'll probably hear more about this book in the future. I'm gonna get back to reading it. bfn.