I’m reading a pretty good book right now called Crazy Love, by Francis Chan.I don’t entirely share the author’s perspective on what the Bible is all about, but he makes some great points that are biblical.Let some of the quotes challenge you.
Chan quotes John Piper, who writes, “The critical question for our generation – and for every generation – is this:If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?”
Chan follows that up with, “How many of you will read those word and say, “You know, I just might be okay with that”?If you are deeply in love with God.., you know you could never be satisfied in heaven without Christ.”
The essence of heaven is being with Jesus Christ.If that is not what we want out of heaven, we are probably not going there.
I think we should also consider Piper’s idea this way:If you could have life, with good health, and with great friends, plenty of great food to enjoy, you could afford and have the time for all the leisure activities you enjoy, and could partake in any physical pleasures you like, and could have no conflicts or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with your life, if Christ were not in it?
How much toward those goals are many Christians already living?
Chan says, “If you merely pretend that you enjoy God or Love Him, He knows.You can’t fool Him; don’t even try.Instead, tell Him how you feel.Tell Him that He isn’t the most important thing in this life to you, and that you’re sorry for that.Tell Him that you’ve been lukewarm, that you’ve chose _________ over Him time and again.Tell Him that you want Him to change you, that you long to genuinely enjoy Him.Tell Him how you want to experience true satisfaction and pleasure and joy in your relationship with Him.”
Comments:
Can you imagine...
Posted on: Monday, January 18, 2010 by Bo
These are some amazingly deep and poignant questions!! My first gut reaction is none of those things would exist w/out Jesus anyway...Jesus is all those things...He is the essence of all things good, all things healthy, all things fun, all things beautiful, all things pleasurable and all things peaceful! I, for one, could not imagine experiencing any of those "good" things without Christ because He is all those things. I don't think you can separate them...and if you can...I don't want it. I just want Jesus. He is everything...without Him, there is nothing.
I also think that to get that nakedly honest with Christ about being lukewarm, or placing something ahead of Him, would be beneficial for anyone and everyone, not just those that are willing to admit it...talk about a gut check...we all have been there and it's really east to slip backwards...I think we should all be so lucky to even think about being that honest with Christ. What a powerful prayer!! Can you imagine the impact or the result of a prayer like that? Amazing!!
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