What if all this economy stuff is a good thing? Do we believe God really is as sovereign as we proclaim?
I want to borrow a quote from John Piper. Piper makes the statement, “God is most glorified when were most satisfied in Him.” God never intended our possessions or relationships to bring us satisfaction. When we can truly praise God for who He is no matter what our situation, God will be most glorified in that moment.
This is the problem that the rich young ruler had in Luke 18. He couldn’t believe that Christ was supreme above all. He could not get out of the mindset that Jesus really is greater than all his stuff. American Christians should realize that by living in a society with comfortable neighborhoods full of large lavish houses where people have the ability to carry their Bibles out in the open without fear of arrest, were actually disadvantaged spiritually. Jesus never says, “blessed are the rich and comfortable, for they are living the Christian life exactly how I pictured it!” NO! Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man go to heaven. Our desire should that of the Apostle Paul’s in Philippians 3:8.
“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”
When Christianity is easy, we have large churches full of casual followers. When Christianity gets a little tougher, the saints emerge. By putting away our possessions and the actions and meditations that hinder and distract us from Christ, we realize that Jesus Christ and living for Him makes sense. Not only will we see that He makes sense, we realize that the lives we’ve worked so hard to build up into being successful…don’t make sense… I think I may have just described the reason for America being so lost within the American Dream it has prided itself on for centuries.
May God’s will be done in America, and may God be truly glorified in America.
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Its funny… I just did a blog on Philippians 3:8 about 2 weeks ago. I called it from Dung to Worship.
This is very true… we have too much comfort to easily slip into a lifestyle that depends on God. That would be radical.
you should blog more friend…
oh man… now you’re quoting Piper… hahaha. well done