As we work our way through John Piper’s In Our Joy I thought you might be interested in a few excerpts from our next undertaking, Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God.
“He wants our joy! He has infinite happiness not through self-centeredness, but through self-giving, other-centered love. And the only way we, who have been created in his image, can have this same joy, is if we center our entire lives around him instead of ourselves.” -page 218
“God did not create us to get the cosmic, infinite joy of mutual love and glorification, but to share it” -page 219
“We were made to center our lives upon him, to make the purpose and passion of our lives knowing, serving, delighting, and resembling him” -page 219
“Nothing makes us more miserable than self-absorption, the endless, unsmiling concentration on our needs, wants, treatment, ego, and record.” -page 220
randy
I definitely agree with those excerpts. The most joy that I receive during the week is when I’m at church worshiping with other believers. Whether it’s during the actual worship service, or at bible study, or in our class, or just in a conversation with a brother or sister about our faith, that’s the time when I’m the most at peace and the happiest. You can find that peace and joy anywhere but when you’re surrounded by God’s people. I am much much closer with my brother’s and sister’s at church than I am with non believing blood relatives. That’s a fact.
As far as giving, I think we all do that in the class when we offer our thoughts on the various topics. That’s not a self centered, or self absorbed thing that we do for attention; but an offering of what the Holy Ghost has put on our hearts. I think that we have a very well read and well educated class. I love to hear what others have discovered as they have thought about various topics. God Bless You All
I’ve been wondering about the “once saved always saved” ideology that was mentioned in Sunday school this week. It doesn’t seem to fit with sola scriptura ( at least I can’t find or remember it being inferred anywhere in scripture.) It also seems to be giving rise to these folks who fill out a card and say yes to a few questions; never bothering to pray – much less attend church ever again! If we were to completely turn our backs on God isn’t it possible to lose salvation? So, as Presbyterians where do we stand on this and does scripture mention this anywhere?