Suffering and Relationship

Jesus is calling for a radical orientation on God himself. He is pushing us to have a real, utterly authentic, personal relationship with God. If God is not real to us—personally, vitally real to us—it will be miserable to endure something difficult with God alone as the one who knows. It will all seem very pointless, because the whole range of horizontal possibilities will be nullified since no one knows what we are going through. All that matters is God, and who he is, and what he thinks, and what he will do. (Piper, John. A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1997. Print. 75)

I found this quote by Piper eye-opening; suffering in a godly manner necessitates we have an authentic relationship with God. Falling back on 'the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away' offers us nothing if we do not have a real-a really real-relationship with our Sovereign. All things working together for good is promised to those who love God. I want to press into to God, to know Him and be known by Him, so that when suffering comes, and come it will, there will be a truly authentic relationship between me and the One who died for me and the One whom I love who will cause all things to work for good for me.

Prosperity I'm Looking For

From A Hunger For God by John Piper:

The assistance we need, above all physical healing and all financial security and all employment successes and all career guidance and all relational harmony, is the divine assistance to see and to savor the glory of God in Christ. Beholding the glory of God in the gospel, we were saved (2 Corinthians 4:4,6). (63)

The kind of prosperity that I am looking for is one that gives me an abundant view of, and voracious feeding upon, the glorious Christ Jesus.

Full yet? Satisified?

Piper on the satisfaction that can only be found in God, from A Hunger for God:

If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. (23)

Are there too many insignificant episodes of Seinfeld smothering and sating your searching for God? Does the desire for the delicacies of every new dining establishment deaden your desire for God? Will the longing for the latest laptop lessen your longing for the Lord? Is the pull and pleasantness of popularity preempting your pursuit of Christ? If so, you may think you're satisfied, but it is only a temporary satisfaction due to the smallness of those things that stuff you. Look for something eternally satisfying found in Christ alone.