Thoughts from the Valley

I wanted to share this part of a prayer called "Spiritual Growth" in The Valley of Vision:

"Give me a tender, wakeful conscience
that can smite and torment me when I sin.
May I be consistent in conversation and conduct,
the same alone as in company,
in prosperity and adversity,
accepting all thy commandments as right,
and hating every false way.
May I never be satisfied with my present spiritual progress..."

Sovereignty & Suffering

Thank you to Between Two Worlds for posting this convicting and inspiring video. Take 7 minutes and watch it.

I get angry when there's traffic, or my order isn't right at a restaurant, or there's too much noise in the office. I fail to see all of these things as the gracious hand of sovereign providence in my life for my good and to advance God's glory.

I am so convinced by this man's testimony, and so grateful for the Savior who saved me from this constant sin in me.

Chapter 1: Why I Wrote This Book (Pt 3)

I had to give this quote from C.S. Lewis. Read it carefully and apply it to your desires for and satisfactions in God:

"Provided the thing is in itself right, the more one likes it and the less one has to 'try to be good,' the better. A perfect man would never act from sense of duty; he'd always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for love (of God and of other people), like a crutch, which is a substitute for a leg. Most of us need the crutch at times; but of course it's idiotic to use the crutch when our own legs (our own loves, tastes, habits, etc.) can do the journey on their own!" (C.S. Lewis: Letters to Children, 276).

I am reading this book because I want "a joy in Christ that is so deep and so strong that it will free me from bondage to Western comforts and security, and will impel me into sacrifices of mercy and missions, and will sustain me in the face of martyrdom. ... The key to endurance in the cause of self-sacrificing love is not heroic willpower, but deep, unshakable confidence that the joy we have tasted in fellowship with Christ will not disappoint us in death" like the Christians in Hebrews 10:34 (20, 21).

My heart screams "Yes!" when I read this, yet my experience feels like it mirrors the blind man who tries to ride a dead horse that he doesn't know is dead. He commands it, and kicks it, and yells, yet it goes no where. That is often how my heart feels inside me, and I want that so desperately to change.

I want to "truly experience...the unsurpassed worth of Jesus with so much joy that [I] can say, 'I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord' (Phil 3:8)" (21).

This is the only kind of experience that is worthy of the Savior!

Chapter 1: Why I Wrote This Book (Pt 1)

Honestly, we're reading this book because we don't desire God like we should, and we don't feel good about it.

We're convinced God is the object most to be desired because He is infinitely desirable, but in my most honest moments, I don't think about Him that way, I don't feel about Him that way and I don't act that way towards Him. I join my name to the list of those who do not desire "God with the passion he demands" (13).

This gets worse because God the Most Desirable does not leave the finding of joy in Him as an option I can take or leave. "Rejoice in the Lord always" is a command!

But between me and my full satisfaction in God stands my indwelling sin "by making other things look more desirable" and "by making me think I am pursuing joy in God, when, in fact, I am in love with his gifts" (14).

As a result, I agree with Piper that in light of this almost insurmountable struggle a "manageable, duty-driven, decision-oriented, willpower Christianity now seem[s] easy, and real Christianity ha[s] become impossible" (14).

Sadly, if I'm honest with myself I want knowledge and status and comfort and security more than God. And, I not only feel like I don't have a desire for God, but I feel like I don't have the power to give it to myself.

This is a very real reality for me. One I recognize and struggle with, and desperately want changed. That's why I'm looking so forward to reading this book. Piper says he wrote it "to be of help to believers and unbelievers who are seeing some of the radical heart-changes demanded by the Bible in the Christian life--especially that we must desire God more than anything" (15).

Thankfully, this struggle is "almost insurmountable," and it's almost because we serve a God for whom "all things are possible" (Mark 10:27). In this reality is my only hope. Heart transformation is God's sovereign, gracious work, and one that I remember saying "Pray all night if you don't have it."

Clear Your Schedule & Listen

While passing out flyers today for my dad's business I've been walking from house to house listening to the message below by Dr. Paul Tripp (author of Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands) from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary's 2007 Theology Driven Ministry Conference.

I told my friend just now that listening to them has been like having someone cut open my chest to allow the light of God's Word to shine on my heart and I've been getting filleted.

1. Your Walk with God is a Community Project (Tripp)
2. Progressive Sanctification and the Anti-Social Nature of Sin (Tripp)
3. The Pastor's Role in Sanctification (Ferguson)
4. Colossians 3:1-17 (Ferguson)
5. Sanctification in the Middle of the Messiness of Relationships (Tripp)
6. Looking in the Mirror: James 1 (Ferguson)
7. Playing in the Box: Romans 7 (Tripp)

If you click on the message's name you can listen instantly, and if you press Control and click your mouse on the link (or Right click if you have a PC), you should be able to start downloading it (if it doesn't, let me know). If that doesn't work, click here to subscribe to the podcast, or click here and scroll down to March 26th and you'll see the conference audio.

I've listened to the first two of Dr. Tripp's four messages so far, and I've also included the messages from Dr. Sinclair Ferguson to have the full conference. The last two were given in the same venue at the same time, but for a reason I don't know they weren't part of the conference.

I hope you're as challenged and rebuked and encouraged and grateful for the Savior as a result of these as I have been.