What Happens When We See God

Highlighted Text: Job 42:5
Full Text: Job 42, 2 Cor. 12

Sight | We can read about God and study His Word and yet never be changed. God is just an idea until He comes and speaks into our hearts. Before God spoke to him, Job was quick to remember his own righteousness. When he heard God’s voice, however, he fell in brokenness and confessed, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you”[1].

Perspective | Job immediately had two new senses about the Lord – that His sovereignty was absolute: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted”[2], and that His wisdom was infinitely superior to human knowledge: “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” [3]. In light of having these two new senses about God, Job also had a new sense about himself: “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” [4].

Sense | This is what happens when we see God. We don’t have to ask God to show us our sin for what it is; we merely need to ask God to open our eyes to see Him in His magnificent and sovereign holiness. When our eyes behold His glory, we automatically see how utterly different we are from Him [5]. Then what happens to us? Do we become joyless and depressing people? No! We get a brokenhearted joy and a childlike faith that trusts in God. As Jonathan Edwards wrote, “The desires of the saints, however earnest, are humble desires; their hope is a humble hope; and their joy, even when it is unspeakable and full of glory, is a humble, broken-hearted joy, leaving the Christian more poor in spirit, more like a little child, and more disposed to a universal lowliness of behavior” [6].

Prayer | Lord, When we’re not in your presence, it’s easy to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. We praise our own abilities and knowledge instead of your sovereignty and wisdom. Yet, when the reality of your holiness comes bursting forth into our hearts, we see how unworthy we are – apart from Jesus – to live in your mighty love. Therefore, make us broken and changed people, who trust in you with childlike faith. Make our objections to you give way to our worship of you. Give us a sense of your holiness so that we live in confession. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] Job 42:5 ESV  |  [2] Job 42:2 ESV  |  [3] Job 42:3 ESV  |  [4] Job 42:6 ESV  |  [5] Isaiah saw the Lord and proclaimed, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Is. 6:6 ESV), and Peter saw Jesus perform a miracle and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Lk. 5:8 ESV).  |  [6] Jonathan Edwards. Religious Affections. (portion in italics is taken from 1 Peter 1:8). Elsewhere Jonathan Edwards elaborated on the experience of David Brainerd, “I saw that I had been heaping up my devotions before God, fasting, praying, pretending, and indeed really thinking sometimes, that I was aiming for the glory of God; whereas I never once truly intended it, but only my own happiness. I saw, that as I had never done any thing for God, I had no claim on any thing from him, but perdition, on account of my hypocrisy and mockery. Oh how different did my duties now appear from what they used to do! I used to charge them with sin and imperfection; but this was only on account of the wanderings and vain thoughts attending them, and not because I had no regard to God in them; for this I thought I had. But when I saw evidently that I had regard to nothing but self-interest, then they appeared a vile mockery of God, self-worship, and a continual course of lies; so that I now saw that something worse had attended my duties, than barely a few wanderings; for the whole world was nothing but self-worship, and a horrid abuse of God. I continued, as I remember, in this state of mind, from Friday morning till the Sabbath evening following (July 12, 1739) when I was walking again in the same solitary place, where I was brought to see myself lost and helpless, as before mentioned. Here, in a mournful melancholy state, I was attempting to pray; but found no heart to engage in that or any other duty; my former concern, exercise and religious affections were now gone. I thought the Spirit of God had quite left me; but still was not distressed; yet disconsolate, as if there was nothing in heaven or earth could make me happy. Having been thus endeavoring to pray though, as I thought, very stupid and senseless for near half an hour, then as I was walking in a dark, thick grove, unspeakable glory seemed to open to the view and apprehension of my soul. I do not mean any external brightness, for I saw no such thing; nor do I intend any imagination of a body of light, somewhere in the third heavens, or any thing of that nature; but it was a new inward apprehension or view that I had of God, such as I never had before, nor any thing which had the least resemblance of it. I stood still, wondered, and admired! I knew that I never had seen before any thing comparable to it for excellency and beauty; it was widely different from all the conceptions that ever I had of God, or things divine. I had no particular apprehension of any one person in the Trinity, either the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost; but it appeared to be divine glory. My soul rejoiced with joy unspeakable, to see such a God, such a glorious Divine Being; and I was inwardly pleased and satisfied that he should be God over all for ever and ever. My soul was so captivated and delighted with the excellency, loveliness, greatness, and other perfections of God, that I was even swallowed up in him; at least to that degree, that I had no thought (as I remember) at first about my own salvation, and scarce reflected there was such a creature as myself.” See how Brainerd FIRST saw his own sinfulness and wretchedness and THEN saw the unspeakable joy of the Lord – so much that he even forgot about himself! This is the process that God uses to show us who He is and who we are in light of who He is. This is how He makes us brokenhearted in joy and childlike in faith. See Jonathan Edwards. The Life and Diary of David Brainerd.

Why and What Do We Pray for One Another

Highlighted Text: 2 Cor. 11:24-27
Full Text: Job 41, 2 Cor. 11

Prayer-Pleading | Paul frequently asked his fellow believers to pray for him. Sometimes he would simply say, “Brothers, pray for us” [1]. Other times he would passionately plead,“Strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf” [2]. And we know why he so desperately needed their prayers. As he testified, “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure” [3].

Prayer-Needing | Paul was brilliant and intense. He was a great man, a spiritual warrior, and a chosen instrument of God. Yet he needed others to pray for him. Why? First, he knew that he could never accomplish his work apart from the grace of God: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” [4]. Second, he knew that moral growth and ministry success came only by prayer. As he told the Philippians, “It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment” [5] (moral growth), and wrote to the Thessalonians, “Pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored” [6] (ministry success).

Prayer-Doing | Lord, We long for grace, moral growth and ministry success in our lives. Thus, we know that we must meet with you in prayer. We must boast in our weaknesses apart from you, knowing that we cannot accomplish the most lasting achievements on this earth apart from your might, power, glory and love. Let us not be lazy in praying for one another – that your grace would abound in our lives, that our love may grow in knowledge and depth of insight, and that your word may speed ahead and be honored in our lives – even as we endure hardship for our obedience like Paul did. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] See Col. 4:3; 1 Thess. 5:25; 2 Thess. 3:1.  |  [2] Rom. 15:30 ESV  |  [3] 2 Cor. 11: 24-27 ESV  |  [4] 1 Cor. 15:10 ESV. See also 1 Peter 4:11; Heb. 13:20-21  |  [5] Phil. 1:9 ESV. See also Col. 1:9-10; Lk. 22:40  |  [6] 2 Thess. 3:1. See also Eph. 6:19; Col. 4:3-4

How and Why God Exposes What We Really Think About Him

Highlighted Text: Job 38:1
Full Text: Job 38; 2 Cor. 8

Recession | Last week, Bloomberg highlighted the struggles of several wealthy New Yorkers who are struggling in the current economy. One executive said that, since his bonus was lower this year, his $350,000 income could no longer cover their children’s tuition, their summer rental, and their apartment upgrade. “I feel stuck,” he said. “The New York that I wanted to have is still just beyond my reach.” Another executive, who spends $17,000 a year on his dogs, has been forced to “re-examine lots of assumptions about how grand their life would be”[1].

Reveal | Job was ridiculously wealthy. He was “the greatest of all the people of the east” in his day [2]. He had seven sons, three daughters, thousands of livestock, and many servants[3]. Moreover, he was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned way from evil” [4]. When he lost everything, however, his thoughts about God – thoughts that were dormant during his time of prosperity – were revealed. He said things that assumed his own righteousness: “Let the Almighty answer me!” [5] and his own correct perspective, “When I hoped for good, evil came” [6].

Expose | Paul Brand wrote, “The more we let our level of contentment be determined by outside factors – a new car, fashionable clothes, a prestigious career, social status – the more we relinquish control over our own happiness” [7]. Yet how do we know whether our joy is based on outside factors? It’s very often one of two ways – either we give it away or He takes it away. God loves to use tough times to expose our true foundations because He wants us to move our joy from our goods to His grace, our money to His mercy, and our wealth to His worth [8]. And why should we want Him to do this? Because He alone is God. As he interrupted Job, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” [9] God alone has knowledge, power, sovereignty and wisdom to run the world and our lives. And there’s nothing more precious than knowing that He exerts all that might to do us good [10].

Prayer | Lord, Pride sits dormant in us during times of prosperity. But we thank you for your gracious work through adversity, exposing the foundations of our hearts and realigning our joy in your unchanging love and victorious grace. Teach us to embrace hardship, as we recognize that you’re doing a massively important work in our souls. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] Max Abelson. Wall Street Bonus Withdrawal Means Trading Aspen for Cheap Chex. Bloomberg. 29 February 2012.  |  [2] Job 1:3 ESV  |  [3] Job 1:2-3  |  [4] Job 1:1 ESV  |  [5] Job 31:35 ESV  |  [6] Job 30:26 ESV  |  [7] Paul Brand and Philip Yancey. The Gift of Pain. Zondervan (1993), p. 293. (Dr. Paul Brand is the physician who discovered that leprosy doesn’t eat away at the skin; it is a disease that results in a leper’s having no sensation of pain. Thus, he argues that pain is – in fact – a great thing because it is a warning sign. The chapter from which this quotation is taken is entitled, “Pleasure and Pain,” and it has a challenging perspective on the Western ideal of a pain-free existence. Again, I have mentioned this book in the past few weeks many times. I cannot more highly recommend it. If you haven’t yet suffered, prepare for it now by reading this book and reflecting on its truth. If you’re currently suffering or have already suffered, you’ll fall in love with this book. (I hope!)  |  [8] See John Piper. Sermon: “What’s the Recession For?” 1 February 2009.  |  [9] Job 38:1 ESV  |  [10] The Bible is FILLED with passages that tell us how much God utterly DELIGHTS to do us good – see Zeph. 3:17; Ps. 147:11; 1 Ptr. 1:6-7; Rom. 2:29; 1 Cor. 4:5; Ps. 18:19; Ps. 147:11; Ps. 149:4; Rom. 8:31-19 … the list goes on and on.  |  [11] This reflection is dedicated to my parents, who constantly took the opportunity to show me that their treasure was not in worldly goods – both by giving away so much to so many and by joyfully experiencing times of struggle when things were taken away.

When Suffering Seems Senseless

Highlighted Text: Job 37:13
Full Text: Job 37; 2 Cor. 7

Purpose | Human beings are resilient. We can put up with a great deal of suffering, as long as we know the reason for it. If we don’t know the reason, however, we can easily become impatient and frustrated. As Nietzsche argued, “What really raises one’s indignation against suffering is not suffering intrinsically, but the senselessness of suffering” [1]. Yet life is full of seemingly purposeless suffering. The suffering of Job, from his perspective, seemed senseless. He didn’t know what was happening between God and Satan and he was all caught up in the mistaken belief that the righteous prospered and the wicked suffered [2].

Source | Even though Job didn’t know the purpose of his suffering, he knew its author. When fire consumed his livestock and wind killed his children, he said: “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” [3]. His final friend to speak, Elihu, pushed Job beyond seeing God as the cause of his suffering only and into seeing Him as the source of mercy in his suffering as well: “He loads the thick cloud with moisture … Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen” [4].

Trust | Knowing that God is sovereign and, at the same time, loving and merciful, we can be patient in our suffering as we trust Him – even when we don’t understand or even agree with Him. As James wrote, “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” [5]. Thus, like Job, we can find comfort and security and hope and truth in God and His sovereign mercy.

Prayer | Lord, You are the author of mercy – whether it comes in the form of prosperity or adversity. We confess that our eyes often see wrongly in the midst of our suffering. Yet, because we trust You (and we long to trust You more and more every day), we’ll wait for your goodness and patiently persevere in Christ. Thus, even if we don’t understand you right now, let us one day look back on today and say, “Now, we see. Now, it all makes sense. Nothing was wasted. We stand in awe of the fabric of your glorious ways.” Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] Nietzsche. On the Genealogy of Morals.  |  [2] Moreover, since Job is limited in his own time, he does not know that, through the testimony of his suffering, God is preparing a people ready to receive the righteous and innocent Messiah who would suffer greatly.  |  [3] Job 1:21  |  [4] Job 37:11, 13 ESV  |  [5] Jms. 5:11 ESV

The First Step to Christian Character

Highlighted Text: 2 Cor. 6:5-10
Full Text: Job 36; 2 Cor. 6

Creation | As we saw yesterday, the incarnation and death of Christ was a rescue operation [1]. And the mark of our having been rescued is our new creation [2]. Yet what does this “new creation” look like? Or, as N.T. Wright asks, “What are the character-forming habits that put together the genuine humans, the God-bearing, Spirit-filled humans, who will one day rule God’s new creation and sum up its praises?” [3]

Crucible | Wright’s answer – based largely on Paul’s letter to the Corinthians – is challenging: “In order to develop Christian character, the first step is suffering” [4]. Paul wrote, “As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything” [5].

Crucifixion | Not only did Paul see the suffering of the Messiah as an essential foundation of the Christian life, he also saw the suffering that he himself inflicted on the church before his own conversion and also the persecution that he himself received after his conversion. As N.T. Wright reflected, “The tradition of ancient Israel within which Paul stood had come, slowly but surely, to understand suffering as somehow falling within the saving purposes of God. This finds expression particularly in books such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel, and of course in the Psalms. We know, in addition, that Paul made Jesus’ crucifixion thematic for his whole life and teaching, as we see in many places, perhaps particularly in 2 Corinthians” [6].

Prayer | Lord, Our fundamental value is not the pursuit of happiness, but rather the pursuit of fulfillment and significance. In taking up our crosses daily, we know that suffering is our first step toward holiness because it’s how you make us like Christ. Therefore, let us live in joyful anticipation of a life that we treasure even more than fleeting happiness – that is, a life that conforms to your will and enjoys eternal pleasures in your hand. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] 2 Cor. 5:21 ESV (“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”)  |  [2] 2 Cor. 5:17 ESV (“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”)  |  [3] N.T. Wright, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. p. 177  |  [4] Id.  |  [5] 2 Cor. 6:5-10 ESV  |  [6] Id. at FN 3

Swapping Sin for Salvation

Highlighted Text: 2 Cor. 5:21
Full Text: Job 35; 2 Cor. 5

Picture | What does this mean – “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” [1]? John Piper once offered a picture:

Imagine a scene with me. There is a young doctor who has a wife and three small children. He volunteers to take a dangerous six-month mission assignment to a place where there is an epidemic of a rare disease and a good deal of hostility from the local people toward outsiders. He takes the assignment because nobody else with his special training was willing to go.

The months pass slowly, and the kids really miss their daddy. The wife does a valiant job of holding things together and trying to be mom and dad. Then the day of his return approaches, and the whole family is full of excitement. Mom has butterflies in her tummy, and the kids race around the house shouting, “Daddy’s coming home! Daddy’s coming home!” At three o’clock in the afternoon a taxi pulls into the driveway. The kids charge out the front door followed by mom with her heart beating so hard she can feel it. The back door of the cab opens, and out steps dad, a good bit thinner than before and bearded to conceal his hollow cheeks, but with a big smile across his weary face. He kneels down on the grass and is smothered with six clinging arms and legs. “Hooray for daddy! Daddy’s home!” Each one gets his special hug and kiss while mom waits. Finally he pulls himself loose and they embrace: “Welcome home.” “It’s good to be back.”

Now I want you to look into this young doctor’s eyes, because there is a message there. And if you can see it and feel it, you will know something of what Jesus felt as he rode into Jerusalem to shouts of welcome and acclamation. What you can see in the doctor’s eyes is something he knows that his family doesn’t know: he caught the disease he went to heal and has one week to live. [2]

Prayer | Lord, In bearing our sin and healing our hearts, Jesus knew that he would die. Yet he endured the shame of the cross because he set his face to the joy of our salvation. In his becoming sin, we are healed. Let us bear this message of reconciliation. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] 2 Cor. 5:21 ESV  |  [2] John Piper. “O, That You Knew the Terms of Peace!” 12 April 1981.

How Paul Was a Long-Term Investor

Highlighted Text: 2 Cor. 4:16
Full Text: Job 34; 2 Cor. 4

Affliction | Paul constantly lived in the way of suffering. He once summarized his afflictions:

“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at the sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches” [1].

Relative | Yet he characterized his afflictions as “light and momentary” [2]. Paul endured suffering in order to accomplish the two great aims of his life – to glorify God and to serve others: “For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you” [3]. Thus, his trials were “light” – not because they were easy – but because they were nothing compared to the weight of glory that he anticipated [4]. They were “momentary” – not because they lasted only a minute – but because they were nothing compared to the ages of eternity that he expected [5]. In financial terms, Paul was a long-term investor, looking past near-term losses for long-term gain [6]:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. [7]

Prayer | Lord, We long to glorify Jesus and serve others. Yet when our pursuit of holiness leads to affliction and trial, help us not to lose heart – as we set our faces to eternity. Make us long-term investors in your kingdom, reckoning our afflictions as “light and momentary” compared to the eternal weight of glory in which we hope. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] 2 Cor. 11:24-28 ESV  |  [2] 2 Cor. 4:17 NIV1984  |  [3] 2 Cor. 4:11-12 ESV  |  [4] Rom. 8:18 ESV (“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”)  |  [5] Even if his suffering lasted an entire lifetime, what is a lifetime compared to eternity?  |  [6] Thank you, Brendan S., for helping me with this phrase!  |  [7] 2 Cor. 4:16-18 ESV

The Intensifiers of Pain

Highlighted Text: Job 31:33-34
Full Text: Job 31; 2 Cor. 1

Intensifiers | Suffering rarely exists alone. It usually comes with feelings that intensify the pain – like fear, anger, guilt, loneliness and helplessness [1]. For example, Job’s suffering wasn’t painful merely because he lost a lot; it was also painful because he felt afraid, angry, guilty, lonely and helpless. In his final speech, he expressed these feelings:

(fear) I have concealed my transgressions …  because I stood in great fear of the multitude [2]. (anger) You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me” [3]. (guilt) Did I not weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? [4] (loneliness) I cry to you for help and you do not answer me [5] (helplessness) Now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest” [6].

Reassurance | Similarly, Norman Cousins, an American author who was told that he had little chance of surviving his arthritis, wrote about his experience of being a patient:

There was first of all the feeling of helplessness – a serious disease in itself. There was the subconscious fear of never being able to function normally again … There was the reluctance to be thought a complainer … There was the conflict between the terror of loneliness and the desire to be left alone. There was the lack of self-esteem, the subconscious feeling perhaps that our illness was a manifestation of our inadequacy … And there was the utter void created by the longing – ineradicable, unremitting, pervasive – for warmth of human contact [7].

Then, near the end of his life, he reflected, “Illness is a terrifying experience. Something is happening that people don’t know how to deal with. They are reaching out not just for medical help but for ways of thinking about catastrophic illness. They are reaching out for hope” [8].

Prayer | Lord, Our suffering is often compounded by our feelings of fear, anger, guilt, loneliness and helplessness. Thus, we pray that you would make us comprehensive caretakers of those who suffer. Show us that ministering to the hurting requires no professional expertise. In Christ, who suffered for us so that we could know ultimate healing, teach us how to stand side-by-side with those who suffer. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] In his excellent book, The Gift of Pain, Dr. Paul Brand is on a “crusade to improve the image of pain.” In my opinion, there is no better book on suffering than this one. Dr. Brand is the doctor who discovered that the problem with leprosy is not that the skin is eaten away; rather, it is that the leper have no sensation of pain. Therefore, for example, a leper would not blink when the eyes need water because they feel no pain (which eventually results in blindness) or a leper would not limp on a broken ankle (which eventually results in amputation). Thus, pain is a gift, a warning sign that something is wrong. Over the years, I have gone back to this book over and over again for all sorts of thoughts. When I have loaned it to someone and not gotten it back, I have bought a new copy because my library cannot do without it. I cannot more highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a wonderful reflection on pain and suffering – physical pain or otherwise. Even if we aren’t struggling now with pain, we will one day and this book is also a wonderful resource for preparing for that time.  |  [2] Job 31:33-34 ESV  |  [3] Job 30:21 ESV  |  [4] Job 30:25 ESV  |  [5] Job 30:20 ESV  |  [6] Job 30:16-17 ESV  |  [7] Cited in The Gift of Pain (see FN 1).  |  [8] 287

The Lovelessness of Indecision

Full Text: Job 30; 1 Cor. 16
Highlighted Text: 1 Cor. 16:13-14

Indecision | In 1934, Dietrich Bonhoeffer looked across Europe and lamented the Christian indecisiveness that he saw. Nazism’s influence on the German church was almost complete and Christians seemed unwilling to do anything about it. On April 7, Bonhoeffer wrote a letter to the head of the ecumenical World Alliance, pleading for action:

“A decision must be made at some point, and it’s no good waiting indefinitely for a sign from heaven that will solve the difficulty without further trouble. Even the ecumenical movement has to make up its mind and is therefore subject to error, like everything human …

But to procrastinate and prevaricate simply because you’re afraid of erring, when others – I mean our brethren in Germany – must make infinitely more difficult decisions every day, seems to me almost to run counter to love. To delay or fail to make decisions may be more sinful than to make wrong decisions out of faith and love” [1].

Love | Like Bonhoeffer, Paul suggests that a strong and decisive love – not perfect decision-making – is the mark of a Christian. To the Corinthians, he writes, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” [2]. We can’t know everything. Ever. In every decision we make, there are unknown realities – things about the present that are hidden and things about the future that are unknowable. Yet our lack of information need not lead us into fear – for the Lord repeatedly tells us not to fear, but to stand firm [3].

Fight | How do we fight fear when it rises in our hearts? We cling to hope in God’s promises. In spite of uncertainties, we consider Him faithful [4]. We affirm God’s sovereign rule in our lives as more valuable than our information. We cast out fear and place our hope in God.

Prayer | Lord, We confess that we have oftentimes let fear lead us to indecision. Yet we long to have a strong love for you and others – a love that hopes in your power and sovereignty so that fear is driven out. Therefore, let us admit that making mistakes is a part of this life, but we don’t need to fear our mistakes. Instead, let us put away indecision and fear and, in its place, be guided by love and hope in the one certain thing of the universe – you. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer, [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010], 218)  |  [2] 1 Cor. 16:13-14 ESV  |  [3] See, e.g., Is. 41:10, 13; Ps. 23:4; Ex. 14:13; Deut. 31:6; 2 Tim. 1:7; Ps. 27:1; Lk. 1:30; 2:10; Heb. 13:6; Jn. 14:27  |  [4] Heb. 11:11  |  [FN] See also John Piper, “When Is Indecision Loveless and Sinful?” Desiring God. 27 Feb. 2012.

Why We Might Pity Entrepreneurs and Christians

Highlighted Text: 1 Cor. 15:19
Full Text: Job 29; 1 Cor. 15

Entrepreneurs | Entrepreneurs sacrifice a lot to accomplish a greater goal. Many leave successful careers in well-established companies, steady incomes and bonuses, and large staffs that care for all the incidentals of running a business. As a result, entrepreneurs usually live modestly – spending their money and time far more strategically and deliberately than they did before. Of course, in their minds, all the sacrifices are worth it because they have a goal in mind – to make their startup successful. They think, “It won’t always be this way. I will sow the sacrifices now so that I can reap the benefits later.”

Christians | Like entrepreneurs, Christians don’t live for today; we live for tomorrow. Our goal is great – to make much of Christ in the only life that we have. We live modestly because we know that our treasures are in heaven and we spend our time strategically because we know that our lives are short and precious. We think, “It won’t always be this way. We’ll sow the sacrifices now so that we can reap the rewards later.”

Success | In both cases, however, there is a harsh reality – that the worth of our sacrifice depends on the reality of our success.  As Paul wrote, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” [1]. Entrepreneurs and Christians alike pour out blood, sweat and tears into realizing their goal. Yet our ventures cannot be based solely on passion; they must be based on truth. If the startup venture fails, then we pity the entrepreneur. If the biblical portrait of Jesus isn’t true, then we pity the Christian. Why? Because both of them sacrificed so much for nothing.

Prayer | Lord, Many generations have gone before us and have been commended for their faith – yet none of them received what had been promised [2]. Together with them, we live by a faith that looks to the life that is to come. Although we cannot yet see it with our eyes, we thank you for the person of Jesus – who came to live on earth in human form, who bled and died in a mortal body, and who rose again for hundreds to bear witness to his resurrection. Therefore, let us give ourselves to the study of Jesus and to the passionate pursuit of his love. For our best life is later, not today. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] 1 Cor. 15:19  |  [2] Heb. 11:39