Death is Grace

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Whether we are young or old makes no difference. What are twenty or thirty or fifty years in the sight of God? And which of us knows how near he or she may already be to the goal? That life only really begins when it ends here on earth, that all that is here is only the prologue before the curtain goes up—that is for young and old alike to think about. Why are we so afraid when we think about death? . . . Death is only dreadful for those who live in dread and fear of it. Death is not wild and terrible, if only we can be still and hold fast to God’s Word. Death is not bitter, if we have not become bitter ourselves. Death is grace, the greatest gift of grace that God gives to people who believe in him. Death is mild, death is sweet and gentle; it beckons to us with heavenly power, if only we realize that it is the gateway to our homeland, the tabernacle of joy, the everlasting kingdom of peace. 

Small Ambitions

John Stott

Ambitions for self may be quite modest…Ambitions for God, however, if they are to be worthy, can never be modest. There is something inherently inappropriate about cherishing small ambitions for God. How can we ever be content that he should acquire just a little more honour in the world? No. Once we are clear that God is King, then we long to see him crowned with glory and honour, and accorded his true place, which is the supreme place. We become ambitious for the spread of his kingdom and righteousness everywhere.

How Much?

For the Love of God
D.A. Carson

Psalm 79:9

Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake!

How much of the driving force behind contemporary evangelical praying is motivated by a passion for the glory of God?

Let Us Learn

Bloodlines
John Piper

John 11:5

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus . . . so . . . he stayed . . . where he was.

Oh, how many people today—even Christians—would murmur at Jesus for callously letting Lazarus die and putting him and Mary and Martha and others through the pain and misery of those days. And if they saw that this was motivated by Jesus’s desire to magnify the glory of God, many would call this harsh or unloving. What this shows is how far above the glory of God most people value pain-free lives. For most people, love is whatever puts human value and human well-being at the center. So Jesus’s behavior is unintelligible to them. But let us not tell Jesus what love is. Let us not instruct him how he should love us and make us central. Let us learn from Jesus what love is and what our true well-being is. Love is doing whatever you need to do to help people see and savor the glory of God forever and ever. Love keeps God central. Because the soul was made for God.

Obviously

A Praying Life
Paul Miller

Obviously, Christians are not better than non-Christians. In fact, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 that the raw material of believers is worse than that of unbelievers. The Corinthians themselves prove that! Christians aren’t superior, but our Savior is. He makes the difference. He is alive and well in his church.

Cock-Crow is Coming

C.S. Lewis
Alister McGrath

We are, Lewis suggested, like a seed patiently waiting in the earth: waiting to come up a flower in the Gardener’s good time, up into the real world, the real waking. I suppose that our whole present life, looked back on from there, will seem only a drowsy half-waking. We are here in the land of dreams. But cock-crow is coming.

You Are God and I Am Not

Sometimes after a fight with my wife, I pray in frustration, “God, what do you want from me?!” He tends to answer quickly, “Forgive. Apologize.” And my immediate response is, “Ugh, I shouldn’t have prayed!”

Sometimes we don’t hear God because we don’t want to.

There’s a parenting strategy where you give children options and thus the illusion of control. Do you want green beans or broccoli? Do you want orange juice or apple juice? The parent chooses what options are possible and we often do this with God. Do you want me to stay in San Diego or move to LA? For some reason China is not on the table.

In real prayer, we come before God as before a King, with our faces to the grown, declaring “You are God and I am not. Your will be done.”

Now while this sounds right, it might not sound appealing. We resonate more readily with the sentiment of “I’d rather die on my feet than live on my knees.” The context of this quote is political but we tend to apply it in an absolute sense. This is both romantic and sad. It means that we have never experienced awe. We have never met anyone or anything outside of ourselves worthy of worship.

When we kneel and offer lives to God, this is not just in response to His superior power but to His everlasting glory, infinite beauty, and amazing wonder.

More Glorious than the Creation of the World

Jonathan Edwards

I am bold to say that the work of God in the conversion of one soul…is a more glorious work of God than the creation of the whole material world.

Nothing is More Out of Place

Leviticus 16:30

[30] For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins. (ESV)

The Day of Atonement was the most important day of the year for the people of God. It was the day that the Lord would ceremonially put away the sin of His people. The people’s sin would be placed on two goats. One goat was slaughtered, signifying that sin must be paid for with death. The other goat was sent away into the wilderness, signifying that sin eternally separates us from God. The Day of Atonement pointed forward to the Son of God who would be slaughtered and cast away from His heavenly Father that we might be welcomed into the household of God.

For his role in the day of atonement, the High Priest of Israel needed to wear special clothing. Normally, the High Priest was dressed impressively. According to Exodus 28:2, he wore items made with pure gold, colorful yarns, and expensive gems. The High Priest’s clothing was to be the most beautiful, glorious garments in the nation.

On the Day of Atonement, the most important day of the year, one would imagine that the High Priest might wear something even more glorious. But instead, he wears clothes of linen (Leviticus 16:4). This clothing was plain and simple, more simple than what an ordinary priest would wear.

See, among men, the High Priest was the holiest, most exalted person in the nation. But before God, he was not so impressive. In fact, he’s no one. Imagine a guest shows up to a wedding wearing a dazzling, white dress. This would be out of place. This guest would want people to notice them but all they would be doing is drawing attention to the fact that they are not the bride. In a similar way, nothing is more out of place, nothing draws more attention to our lack than to come before God trying to show off our own righteousness and goodness.

Isaiah 64:6 tells us that all our righteous acts are like filthy rags before God. This verse is not talking about the worst parts of us, but our very best. Our greatest strengths, our most noble sacrifices, our most holy prayers are filthy rags compared to the blinding holiness of the Lord of glory. No one can stand before God. No one can boast. For all have sinned and fall woefully short of the glory of God. We do not flaunt ourselves before Him. We bow.

You Are Holy

Nichole Nordeman