Is God Glad Osama Bin Laden Is Dead?

As Christians, how should we respond to the death of Osama bin Laden? Should we rejoice? Should we be sad? John Piper wrote a great piece on his website about this very subject:

God’s emotions are complex—like yours, only a million times more. Right now, your emotions about bin Laden are not simple, i.e. not single. There are several, and they intermingle. That is a good thing. You are God-like.
In response to Osama bin Laden’s death, quite a few tweets and blogs have cited the biblical truth that “God does not delight in the death of the wicked.” That is true.                    
It is also true that God does delight in the death of the wicked. There are things about every death that God approves in themselves and things about every death that God disapproves in themselves.
...
My suggestion is that the death and misery of the unrepentant is in and of itself not a pleasure to God. God is not a sadist. He is not malicious or bloodthirsty. The death and suffering considered for itself alone is not his delight.
Rather, when a rebellious, wicked, unbelieving person is judged, what God has pleasure in is the exaltation of truth and righteousness, and the vindication of his own honor and glory.  

Read the rest of it here. It is a good read. Well worth your time. 

By His Grace,

Taylor

The Missionary Question

"The missionary question is not, 'Where are there unbelievers?' and then send a missionary there. There are unbelievers everywhere! The missionary question is, 'Where are there people's who don't have any Christians in them or don't have a church strong enough to do the neighbor evangelism that we can do if we just want to do it?' That's the missionary question." ~ John Piper



Lost from AsiaLink HistoryMaker on Vimeo.
Very powerful.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Humility

"Humility senses that humility is a gift beyond our reach. If humility is the product of reaching, then we will instinctively feel proud about our successful reach. Humility is the gift that receives all things as gift. It is the fruit not of our achievement but of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). It is the fruit of the gospel—knowing and feeling that we are desperate sinners and that Christ is a great and undeserved Savior.

Humility is the one grace in all our graces that, if we gaze on it, becomes something else. It flourishes when the gaze is elsewhere—on the greatness of the grace of God in Christ" ~ John Piper, Lewis and Edwards on the Layers of Self-Admiration

I have written on humility before, but I really wanted to share this quote. Piper hits on a key point when it comes to humility: once gazed upon it immediately becomes something else. When we think about our humility we cannot help but be proud of the fact that we are humble, thus damaging the humility. Tim Keller calls true humility "blessed self-forgetfulness" because it is only when our focus is lifted from ourselves to something else (to Christ, as Piper points out) that true humility can be developed. C. S. Lewis affirms this in Mere Christianity: "Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call 'humble' nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a bit envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all."

By His Grace,
Taylor

Idolatry in Desire

In one of Piper's recent articles he discussed 12 signs that desire is becoming idolatry. I thought I would share his wise insights.

1. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is forbidden by God.
2. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is disproportionate to the worth of what is desired.
3. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is not permeated with gratitude.
4. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it does not see in God’s gift that God himself is more to be desired than the gift.
5. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is starting to feel like a right, and our delight is becoming a demand.
6. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it draws us away from our duties.
7. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it awakens a sense of pride that we can experience this delight while others can’t.
8. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is oblivious or callous to the needs and desires of others.
9. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it does not desire that Christ be magnified as supremely desirable through the enjoyment.
10. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is not working a deeper capacity for holy delight.
11. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when its loss ruins our trust in the goodness of God.
12. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when its loss paralyzes us emotionally so that we can’t relate lovingly to other people.

By His Grace,
Taylor