Thursday, August 30, 2007

Desiring God

so, I'm reading the first book from the shipment of books i got from John Pipers ministry www.desiringGod.com they had a $5 all book sale and lets just say i took advantage. well so i thought i should start at the start, reading Desiring God. i am and it's has been such a blessing in just the first 50 pages. Piper starts out with how he became a Christian Hedonist, then goes right into what that means. it's really just a shocking way of saying God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. what has really stood out to me is not that so much; but that glorifying God is what it's "all" about. Piper says "the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever" a play on the words of the original, and "the chief end of God is to glorify God and enjoy himself forever". that grabbed me, is God really so stuck on himself? again a piper quote "nothing pleases God more then God", and "he delights in his glory above all things". well i must say the first thought i had was "i object!" but i read on, he said he received much help from Jonathan Edwards in his book, the end for which God created the world. any one with a major objection to this thought is directed there. he goes on, "God's own glory is uppermost in his own affections, in everything he does his purpose is to preserve and display that glory." he poses the question i had thought of, "can he still be loving if this is true?" how can a loving God be so enamored with self? 1 cor 13:5?? in my own words, yes God not only can be loving and have his own glory be the uppermost in his affections, but furthermore that's the most loving thing he can do. all through out the bible God commands we praise him, again is this just some cheap way of getting glory from man? no! because God is the most wonderful, glorious, most good in all of creation and beyond; he has to first, love himself and have his own glory uppermost in his own affections, and second demand the same from us because to love that which is ultimately loving is the most loving thing. to demand we praise that which is ultimately praiseworthy is the most loving thing. for us and for God we must have God and his glory be the uppermost of our affections, anything less is idolatry. God can not love anything less then himself the most, and to command the same from us is the most loving thing he can do for us...or something like that, it's pretty deep and I'm just starting to scratch the surface. if it is true that Gods glory comes first and is why he does all things, it makes a huge difference in the way we view the things God has done through out history.

2 comments:

Hindsey said...

Great post, Dave!

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for THY pleasure they are and were created.

When we live our lives for OUR pleasure, we are failing to to do the thing for which we were created.

I love what you wrote, "we must have God and his glory be the uppermost of our affections, anything less is idolatry." His name is Jealous (Exodus 34:14).

VWheelhousen said...

This is awesome dave.