chapter deux

You are right Jon -- press on, press on! But I hope you are not equating the Holy Spirit with coffee. For one, the Spirit is much better for your health. :)

We started out by clarifying what message(s) Piper is trying to bring through in this section. It can get a little convoluted sometimes, as he weaves us in and out of his experiences and lessons. but the first half talks of the importance of recognizing the Bible as objective Truth -- not something we can freely apply to our personal situations as we see fit. You will all definitely hear more about this during Sunday's Doctrine talk!

Piper explains the influence Edwards had on him, and how the two "contradictions" finally came together for him -- glorifying God and pursuing happiness is not either/or. It is the SAME thing, because "if my life was to have a single, all-satisfying, unifying passion, it would have to be God's passion...[and] God's passion was the display of his own glory and the delight of my heart" (28).

Like Ken said, that is such a simple & obvious statement... so TRUE...but how often have you thought about it like that?? God wants the best for you -- so he wants you to have Himself. To delight in His glory, and to glorify Him, because He is the best!

If your life is not spent glorifying God & boasting solely in the cross of Christ, then you are not pursuing the best. Your life is wasted.

Well, I think I will leave the responsibility of sharing your own sharings to each of you (does that make any sense?) because my brain is starting to shut down :P We talked about some favourite passages and similes used in this chapter. And we delved into "how can you discern God's will for your life?" which is why I sent out those emails with further resources to check out.

The passage that resonated with me the most was the following (when reading it, I thought, "I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THAT'S LIKE!"):
I felt like my little brown path of life had entered an orchard, a vineyard, a garden with mind-blowing, heart-thrilling, life-changing fruit to be picked everywhere. Never had I seen so much truth and so much beauty condensed in so small a sphere. The Bible seemed to me then, and it seems today, inexhaustible.

When the Spirit starts aligning your perspective with God's as presented in His Word, the result is phenomenal! It's happened gradually to me for the last few years, but really picked up in the past 2 years or so. If this has not been your experience, PRAY to God that He would grant you the same. He listens to the persistent prayers of the righteous, and you will be changed.

Goodbye little brown path of life!