As part of my morning devotions, I have been reading A Godward Life, volume 1, by John Piper. It is a book of short articles, letters, and musings by its author. It serves well as a devotional offering things to thinks about, pieces to praise about, and ideas to be inspired about.
This morning I read a passage about the 1991 flooding in Bangladesh that took hundreds of thousands of lives. Piper, to help him deal with this devastating deluge, searched the Scriptures for solace.
Some of his comments are applicable to the tragedy in Japan so I thought I would share them this morning.
Life is not something we possess by virtue of our merit. We do not "own" our life in relation to God ... Life is God's and is on loan to us freely so that we might enjoy glorifying God with it. It is always and totally at his disposal, never rightfully at his disposal. Life belongs to God.
The heart of God is large and complex. He is able to be grieved over the pain of his creatures, while at the same time ordaining that this very pain and death take place for a higher and greater purpose that brings him more joy than if he had run the world in another way.
Our response therefore should be to weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15) and not to delight callously in the destruction of anyone n this age, but to extend the love of Christ and the hope of salvation as long as we can to those who live. When confronted with the reason why we must look to the God who has absolute rights over us and take heed to ourselves knowing that our time will be very soon.
Awesome post buddy! So often when we think of passages like Gal. 6:14 that teach us to only boast in Christ because nothing is ours anyways, we only think material things or maybe if we meditate a little longer, a talent or something. It's so humbling to be reminded that every breath in my lungs, every beat of my heart, and every cell in my body belongs to God. I really have absolutely nothing if it weren't for God's providence.
ReplyDelete