“With each beatitude another nail is driven into a coffin. Inside the coffin lies the corpse of a false understanding of salvation. The false understanding said that a person can be saved without being changed. Or: that a person can inherit eternal life even if his attitudes and actions are like the attitudes and actions of unbelievers…you just make a decision one time and then it doesn’t matter if your merciful [or do anything the Bible commands].” - John Piper
I am slowly working through a sermon series by Piper on the Beatitudes. It’s SO refreshing, basic, foundational… I wish I would have listened to this sooner and really dove into the depths of this passage.
If your times with the Lord have been dry lately… I suggest starting here again. Don’t give-up pressing towards Christ. He is SO worth it ALL!!!
Mike and I have also been reading “Essential Truths of the Christian Faith” by R.C. Sproul. A quote from last week that continues to resonate with me:
“It is infinitely more important for my heart to be right before God than that my theology be impeccably correct. However, for my heart to be right, there is a primacy of the intellect in terms of order. Nothing can be in my heart that is not first in my head… the more I come to understand that character of God, the greater is my capacity to love Him.”
For those of you, like me, who have found themselves saying or thinking “I don’t need to read the Word today, I just want to love Jesus through prayer and worship.” Please ask yourself, why must they be separate? Prayer and worship are good and often more “fun” or “emotional” that reading the Word, but the Bible is our DIRECT source of God’s wisdom, love and character… It’s SOO important!
Someday I’ll become a consistent blogger, but until then, I hope these things challenge you as much as they did me!
Love,
-H-
