Musing on a Paradox

What comes to mind when you read the phrase fatal success?

I happened across it on p.46 of John Piper’s book Don’t Waste Your Life.

As far as what it is, it could go one of two ways:

• Either a hit man whacked a wise guy who wasn’t wise enough, or
• Goals are reached, and they lead to death

As far as what it looks like, Piper provides a striking story that exemplifies what this type of success might resemble. He describes an article in the February 1998 Reader’s Digest:

[The article] tells about a couple who “took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.”

At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t.

Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life – your one and only precious, God-given life – and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account ot your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “Look, Lord. See my shells.”

Of course vacations aren’t bad, relaxing isn’t bad, and retirement isn’t bad… but what would fatal success look like for you?

How can we seek to use our lives for Christ instead?

Let the river run deep

In the article referenced in a post last week, Dr. Page cites busyness as one of the main enemies of the pastor’s spiritual life. When I ran across the following paragraphs from John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, my thoughts immediately returned to Dr. Page’s article and the impact of the pastor’s spiritual life on the congretation.

Many pastors are not known for expressing deep emotions. This seems to me especially true in relation to the profoundest theological realities. This is not good, because we ought to experience the deepest emotions about the deepest things. And we ought to speak often, and publicly, about what means most to us, in a way that shows its value.

Brothers, we must let the river run deep. This is a plea for passion in the pulpit, passion in prayer, passion in conversation. It is not a plea for thin, whipped-up emotionalism. (“Let’s all stand up and smile!”) It is a plea for deep feelings in worthy forms from God besotted hearts and minds. [p. 149, emphasis mine]

While this discussion continues to mention pastors, the need for a deep spiritual life does not pertain only to them. Pastors are more visible and influence a larger number of people, but we, too, ought to carry a passion in our conversation and daily lives that focuses others on God and His glory.

If our salvation is simply an insurance policy against hell, then we will just check it every Sunday (or less frequently) to make sure that we still feel that we are ‘saved’. But if Christ is truly our bread of life and living water, we will feed on Him constantly and live deeply through Him – our actions, words, and passions will all reflect and honor Him!

Treasure check

 

 If you were offered a life where all pain is removed, success is guaranteed, and comfort abounds -  but in this life there was no God – would you take it?

 Matthew 13:44 ”The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

What is our treasure – ‘not-hell’ (eternal fire insurance), our comforts & security, or Christ?

 How do we know?

 Let John Piper hit you over the head with this (especially the first 15 or so minutes)

   

Home-bound

When I was a child I loved to go out to my cousin’s place and ride horses. They always set me up with a big, tan horse who was probably well past its working years and took life pretty easy. I remember how difficult it was to control the horse, not because of any bucking or crazy behavior (which would be much cooler to talk about) but because it just wanted to return to the barn. I’m sure that my arms were sore for a week after pulling on that horse’s head, trying to keep it from turning towards home. Once it was time to head back towards the barn, it was difficult to keep the horse from shifting up into a gallop, it loved the barn so much.

One of the reasons that I think that it can be so difficult for us to hold on to our joy is that we forget where our real home is. Our flesh urges us to strive towards some goal of a perfect life on earth, complete with every comfort and free from any stress. On the other hand, Christ calls us to look towards eternity with Him and live this life with our eternal home in view. Like the horse in my childhood, we will be drawn towards the home that we desire; it is our responsibility, through the Spirit, to keep our focus on heaven and eternal life with Christ rather than the elusive claims of this temporary life.

The rub is that we have to look past the world that we see with our eyes and aspire for a world which we cannot see but only read about, at least for now. Even though we cannot look at pictures or videos of our eternal destiny to keep our goal fresh in our minds, we can still keep vivid images of heaven stored in our hearts. When the idols of this life confront us and promise us every pleasure, a quick glance at the image of our eternal destiny will melt temptation’s power and bring us once again to the worship of Christ.

Passages like Isaiah 65:17-21 and much of Revelation provide pictures of heaven that we can store in our hearts, and hymns and poetry based on a Biblical view of heaven are also very valuable. I especially like the poem entitled Glorified by John Piper, which includes this excerpt:

And in the twinkling of an eye
The saints descended from the sky…

And every sorrow deep within,
And every trace of lingering sin
Is gone. And all that’s left is joy,
And endless ages to employ
The mind and heart to understand
And love the sovereign Lord who planned
That it should take eternity
To lavish all his grace on me.

O God of wonder, God of might,
Grant us some elevated sight,
Of endless days. And let us see
The joy of what is yet to be.
And may your future make us free,
And guard us by the hope that we,
Within the light of candle four,
Are glorified forevermore.

What do you use to keep your focus on heaven?