John Piper Article "Saying What You Believe Is Clearer Than Saying 'Calvinist'"

This was from the Desiring God blog today and I love it!

Saying What You Believe Is Clearer Than Saying “Calvinist”


January 20, 2011
by: John Piper
Category: Commentary

We are Christians. Radical, full-blooded, Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting, God-centered, mission-advancing, soul-winning, church-loving, holiness-pursing, sovereignty-savoring, grace-besotted, broken-hearted, happy followers of the omnipotent, crucified Christ. At least that’s our imperfect commitment.

In other words, we are Calvinists. But that label is not nearly as useful as telling people what you actually believe! So forget the label, if it helps, and tell them clearly, without evasion or ambiguity, what you believe about salvation.

If they say, “Are you a Calvinist?” say, “You decide. Here is what I believe . . .”


I believe I am so spiritually corrupt and prideful and rebellious that I would never have come to faith in Jesus without God’s merciful, sovereign victory over the last vestiges of my rebellion. (1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 3:1–4; Romans 8:7).

I believe that God chose me to be his child before the foundation of the world, on the basis of nothing in me, foreknown or otherwise. (Ephesians 1:4–6; Acts 13:48; Romans 8:29–30; 11:5–7)

I believe Christ died as a substitute for sinners to provide a bona fide offer of salvation to all people, and that he had an invincible design in his death to obtain his chosen bride, namely, the assembly of all believers, whose names were eternally written in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain. (John 3:16; John 10:15; Ephesians 5:25; Revelation 13:8)

When I was dead in my trespasses, and blind to the beauty of Christ, God made me alive, opened the eyes of my heart, granted me to believe, and united me to Jesus, with all the benefits of forgiveness and justification and eternal life. (Ephesians 2:4–5; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Philippians 2:29; Ephesians 2:8–9; Acts 16:14; Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 3:9)

I am eternally secure not mainly because of anything I did in the past, but decisively because God is faithful to complete the work he began—to sustain my faith, and to keep me from apostasy, and to hold me back from sin that leads to death. (1 Corinthians 1:8–9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 1:25; John 10:28–29; 1 John 5:16)

Call it what you will, this is my life. I believe it because I see it in the Bible. And because I have experienced it. Everlasting praise to the greatness of the glory of the grace of God!

Hope and Faith in What or Whom?

There are so many things for which I have prayed that have never come to pass. I have prayed for the lost to be found. I have prayed for a child. I have prayed for relationships to be restored. I have prayed for physical healing. I have seen God answer my prayers in mighty and big ways before, but I have also prayed for many good things and have seemingly received no answer from God. Sometimes it has later made sense to me why God did not bring about what I pleaded with Him to do. Other times, I simply could make no sense of it.


And yet, the more I get to know God in the Bible, the more I trust Him. The more I see Him at work in my life, the more I see that His goodness is so far beyond my understanding of what is good. The more I cry out to Him and experience His presence in millions of ways, the more I see that His love is like nothing else I have given or experienced.

Prayer draws me deeper into His presence—into the presence of my Loving Father. Prayer reminds me of just how much I need Him. Prayer fills me with genuine thanksgiving and praise, as I reflect on all the prayers that have been answered and as I reflect on God’s overall faithfulness to me. Prayer allows me to be honest before the God who has already accepted me in Christ and who continually forgives me and daily conforms me to the image of Jesus. Prayer whets my appetite for the Word. Prayer fills me with worship towards God and love for others. Prayer changes my heart.

He has not promised to fulfill every desire of my heart—and this is a good thing since many of the desires of my heart are not good or are simply not His best. He has not promised me a life of no pain—to the contrary He has promised suffering and asks me to deny myself and take up my cross (Phil 1; Matthew 16).

He has promised He will not leave me or forsake me (John 14; Deut 3, 1 Chronicles 28; Hebrews 13). He has promised that He is working all things for my good and for the good of His people (Romans 8). He has promised to give rest to all who come to Him (Matt 11). He has promised eternal life for all who believe in Him (John 3). He has promised that He will wipe away every tear one day (Rev 21). He has promised that His grace is sufficient for me (2 Cor 12).

I will not stop praying for people and situations in my life. I will not stop praying for things I have long prayed for and have yet to see come to pass. I know that it honors God for me to persist in prayer for these things. I know that the heart of God is the heart of the Ultimate Loving Father who delights to listen to the requests of His children and who delights to bless them. Yet I want to learn to pray more and more with faith and hope in God—not in the things I want or in the gifts that He gives—but faith and hope in God Himself, who is my treasure above every other thing. And I want to trust in His goodness, no matter what.

I see Jesus’ heart of trusting His Father when He prays on the Mount of Olives:

Luke 22:41-44 “And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’ 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

The Father does not take away the cup of suffering from Jesus. And since Jesus is God, He even knows this when He is praying. Jesus’ heart is 100% committed to the will of His Good Father. And Scripture tells us Jesus willingly died for our sins. And yet Jesus brings His sorrows to His Father. And while Jesus' circumstances do not change, through prayer He receives strength to walk through them. 

I have been blessed to have a godly earthy father. He is one of the people I most respect in this world. My dad has always let me know that I am loved. He has always been there for me. My dad has sacrificed for me. I know that my dad delights in me, and he enjoys it when I talk to him and ask him for help—this has always been true. I know that, despite the fact that he is human and accordingly imperfect, his heart’s desire is to point me to God and to do me good. I know that my heartaches have caused my dad sorrow and my joys have caused him joy. Over the course of my life, I have asked me dad for lots of things. To some of these things, he has said “yes”, and to some of these things he has said “no”, but I know his heart’s desire has always been for my good.

Unlike my earthly father, my Heavenly Father is perfectly good, perfectly wise, perfectly loving, and perfectly in control. As much as my earthly father wants my good, my Heavenly Father perfectly wants my good, has the perfect power to bring about my best good, and has promised that He is doing so. As much as my earthly father loves me, my Heavenly Father loves me perfectly. As much as my earthly father has sacrificed so much in his life for me, my Heavenly Father has made the ultimate sacrifice for me by sending His Beloved Perfect Son to the cross so that I could be free. As much as my earthly father delights in me and enjoys it when I talk with him and ask him for help, so much more does my Heavenly Father! And so much more is my Heavenly Father equipped to guide and direct me and provide for me! As much as my earthly father rejoices and grieves with me, how much more does my Heavenly Father rejoice and grieve with me! And as much as my earthly father has tried to answer my requests of him with “yes” and “no” according to what he discerned would be best for me, how much more does my Heavenly Father know what would be best for me!

More and more, I want to study, meditate on, know and trust God’s character as displayed in the Scriptures. He is good! More and more, I want to go to Him with EVERYTHING—with all the circumstances of my life and with all the cares and joys of my heart. More and more, I want to ask Him to move in my life and in the lives of those around me. More and more, I want to trust Him whether I understand what He is doing or not. More and more, I want Him to conform my heart to His!

Easy A

I recently rented the movie, “Easy A”. This romantic comedy is about a smart and witty high school girl named Olive. When the movie starts out, Olive is hardly noticed by anyone in her school. Then, after a series of events, a Christian classmate named Marianne overhears a lie about Olive losing her virginity. In general, Marianne is portrayed as self-righteous, hypocritical, naïve, judgmental, and unkind. With the exception of trying to “convert” and moralize them, Marianne and the other “Christians” at her school generally separate themselves from the non-Christians there. Marianne spitefully spreads the untrue story about Olive all over the school. All of a sudden, Olive goes from being unnoticed to being in the spotlight at school. Rather than being disturbed by the rumor, the sarcastic and somewhat independent Olive is amused by her classmates’ response to the rumor, and she even seems to enjoy the attention. Having just read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Scarlett Letter” in her English class, Olive rebelliously decides to play into the rumors. She starts to wear skimpy outfits to school and wears the letter A as a statement. After observing Olive’s new found fame, some Olive’s unpopular friends and acquaintances approach her to see if they could also be incorporated into the false rumors about her reputation so that they too could benefit from the attention. At first Olive refuses, but then she has compassion (albeit misguided compassion) on these boys who struggle to fit in at their high school. While the boys are commended by their classmates for their (fake) conquests, the attention Olive receives is increasingly negative and degrading. Appalled at Olive’s alleged behavior, Marianne and her “Christian” friends launch a campaign to get Olive expelled, despite the fact that one of them is having an affair with a teacher. The consequences of Olive’s decisions finally catch up to her and she eventually wants it all to stop—she wants everyone to know that the rumors are false—but at that point, she is in over her head in the elaborate lie she created. I won’t spoil the rest of the movie for you….

I enjoyed this movie. I found it to be very well written and acted. It was funny and thought-provoking. It would be easy to watch the movie and be frustrated by the fact that it perpetuates the image of Christians being hypocritical, judgmental, insincere, self-righteous, and naïve. Of course this does not reflect who Christ is or what a true follower of Christ should look like.  But the truth of the matter is that we Christians have done much to earn this reputation, and much of our society sees Christians in this way. Like Marianne and her friends, too often we take it upon ourselves to “convert” unbelievers and to “save them” from their immorality, all the while hiding and disregarding our own glaring sins. We often fail to remove the plank in our eyes before removing the speck in theirs, and it is obvious to them and others around us--particularly when so many of them are more kind, more generous, and more compassionate than we are. Furthermore, we Christians can treat unbelievers like a project—as if our mission is to convert or save them from their sin rather than to genuinely love them with Christ’s love (because He genuinely loves them!). This involves serving them, being honest with them about who God is, and also being real about our own weaknesses so that God would be glorified as others see His great love and mercy to us! And anyway, we make for poor saviors. God is the one who changes hearts, saves us from sin, and transforms us.  And Jesus is the only one who lived a perfect life--our lives are a far cry from this!

Instead of treating unbelievers like projects, what if we instead invested in our own relationship with God? What if we truly sought to know who He is and what His character is like by reading His Word? What if we learned to see God in increasing wonder, joy and awe? What if we spoke to Him in humble, honest prayer—acknowledging who He is, being real about who we are, asking Him to reveal Himself to us, and asking Him to transform us? What if we interacted with His Body, asking questions, being honest about ourselves, searching the Scriptures together, and submitting to one another? What if in all this, God revealed Himself to be our greatest treasure, deepest source of joy, and truest friend?

Wouldn’t it then be natural to share His love with others? When I have an interest or passion—it comes out in what I do, how I live, how I see things, and what I talk about! What if God was my passion? Wouldn’t it then become less about me and making myself look good (or less bad than I really am)?  Wouldn't His loves become my loves? (and how He loves all people!)

In a sermon he preached this past Sunday, Pastor Mike Gunn drew a comparison between a salesman and an evangelist. http://www.gracepugetsound.com/sermons/Gunn1-9-11.mp3 We are not called to be salesmen! God does not need salesmen to pitch Him anyway! Salesmen give a pitch because it is their job to sell, not necessarily because they believe in the product. An evangelist is someone who is a believer and cannot help but share—it is something that authentically flows out of the evangelist because he or she has experienced something incredible first hand.

God does not want us to go out and tell the world about Him out of a painful, reluctant, duty. God wants us to share our treasure with others because we have EXPERIENCED and ENCOUNTERED THE ONE TRUE, AWESOME, ALMIGHTY, MERCIFUL, BEAUTIFUL GOD OF THE UNIVERSE! This is so loving of God—loving toward us and toward those with whom He has called us to share! May this always be our main focus and starting point for all ministry!

Missional Living

I loved this sermon from Pastor Mike Gunn on the Great Commission. 

http://www.gracepugetsound.com/sermons/Gunn1-9-11.mp3

Weariness

In the last few months, I have felt weary.  I have felt like I am being dragged behind a wild horse who has taken off in every which direction.  It has felt chaotic, exhausting, and yet not very productive.  This week, I have taken some time for quiet reflection...clearing my schedule, spending good time in the Word, and writing.  It has been refreshing!  I stumbled upon this article by C.J. Mahaney and I found it so helpful today: http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Reference/Blog/cj-mahaney-biblical-productivity.pdf  He really hit on some concepts in my life where I struggle with sin and immaturity.  Here are a couple of things in the article that really stood out to me:

"...busyness does not mean I am diligent; busyness does not mean I am faithful; busyness does not mean I am fruitful."

"...it appears to me that being faithful, productive, and fruitful for the glory of God requires that I accomplish
three things: 1. define my present God‐given roles, 2. determine specific, theologically informed goals, and
3. transfer these goals into my schedule."
 
"For me, I work from two general categories that work well with most of my roles (especially my relationships with other people). Broadly speaking, my goals are twofold: • Serve (How can I serve others?)
• Surprise (How can I surprise others?)"
 
"busyness does not indicate that we are devoting ourselves to the most important things. We can become busy with everything under the sun except fulfilling the roles God has assigned for us. And no matter how busy I appear, if I am neglecting one of my primary roles, I am a procrastinator, spinning in unproductive circles."
 
"Each day, both requests and opportunities to serve exceed our capacity and our time. Saying 'no' is really a humble response acknowledging our limitations. But if we have not determined in advance who we are to serve, and how we are to serve, we will not be able to say 'no' when appropriate."
 
"...if the request is not consistent with my roles, I ask a further question: Can I complete this in less than two minutes? Sometimes small opportunities to bless others arise but do not fit into our specific roles. If that’s the case, go for it.” If not—if this is a large request that would require a block of time in my schedule and does
not fit into my roles—I must decide to delegate, decline, or delete the request (basic David Allen stuff)."

"Scripture calls us to cast all our anxieties on God, because he cares for us. 6 'Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all
uour anxieties on him, because he cares for you.' (1 Peter 5:6–7, ESV). Casting all my cares upon the Lord is a means of humbling myself before the Lord. In reading these passages we discover that casting our cares upon the Lord falls under the command to humble ourselves. Casting our cares is an expression of humility. When I fail to cast my cares upon him, I display prideful self‐sufficiency."

"I find the counsel of Charles Spurgeon very helpful. 'I always feel it well,' he wrote, 'to put a few words of prayer between everything I do.' Throughout his busy days, Spurgeon scattered words of prayer between each activity, a model I have sought to emulate over the years. The content of my 'few words of prayer' is not unique and if you overheard them, you wouldn’t be impressed. I am a simple man and when I think of casting all my cares it is a simple acknowledgement of my dependence upon God and my need of grace throughout the day. But the very act of pausing in a busy day to pray is an act of weakening pride in my life, acknowledging that I am a dependent creature. I am not self‐sufficient."

"At its root, weariness is often the result of pride and self‐sufficiency in my life. When I neglect casting my cares upon the Lord, the heavy fatigue of weariness will settle into my soul."

Wow, so much to ponder.  Feeling convicted and encouraged all at the same time. 

Paul Miller Interview on Desiring God

In case you couldn't tell, I am a huge fan of the book, "A Praying Life" by Paul Miller.  I can't tell you how helpful it has been in my walk with God and in my prayer life.  http://www.desiringgod.org/ has been posting an interview series with Paul Miller, and I was blown away by the truth in today's post.  Love it!

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/paul-miller-on-becoming-the-gospel?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DGBlog+%28DG+Blog%29

Can you give us a summary of Sonship, the discipleship course you helped put together?


I designed the Sonship course over a period of ten years from ’83-’93, but the core of it was formed in the mid-80s. Half of the sixteen lectures was dad’s and the other half was split between my mom and myself. World Harvest continued to refine the course after I left in ’97.

The heart of the Sonship course is the gospel applied to my life. We begin to mature as Christians by realizing that we don’t have it all together. So the very thing that we avoid like the plague—our weakness and our sin—is the door to grace in our lives. The church has tended to drift into legalism because it tends to isolate the gospel to salvation and not see it as the foundation to the whole life.

The only thing I would add to the Sonship course is a simple slogan: we believe and become the gospel. Not that we literally become the gospel, but we tend to miss the grand Pauline theme of entering into Jesus. The gospel isn’t something simply abstract that you believe, it is something that you enter. (I mention this theme in chapter 25 of A Praying Life. That chapter is really the heart of the book.)

For instance, in Colossians 1:24 Paul writes, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” What does Paul mean?

It isn’t that complicated. Jesus’ death for my wife Jill is finished. It is a once-for-all death. Now for Jill to understand and experience the gospel in her life, I need to live a dying life in relationship to her. Jesus can’t die again for her, but I can—in hundreds of big and small ways that range from a tender compassion that understands her world to a thoughtful honesty that risks her disapproval. The result is that my life is characterized by dying and resurrection (Philippians 2:1-11). The result? An obedient life that reflects the image of Jesus.

The Least of These

A few years back, I read a great book called “Jesus in the Margins: Finding God in the Places We Ignore” by Rick McKinley. One of the points of the book was that Jesus spent His life on earth in the margins—seeking out people who lived in the margins. As I read the gospels, it truly does amaze me to think that the God of the Universe spent a lot of His time giving one-on-one attention to people whom many might describe as outcastes, nobodies, insignificant, powerless, uninteresting, unsavory, and basically a waste of time, energy, and resources—especially for an important person like Jesus! And yet we see Jesus investing in a group of humble fishermen who were sometimes pretty slow and sometimes even disloyal to Jesus. We see Jesus reaching out to people who were suffering from sickness, disease, pain, and demon oppression in a society where these types of suffering were often presumed to be a punishment for some wrong committed by the ones who suffered them. In the Beatitudes, we hear Jesus called “blessed” those who mourn, those who are poor in spirit, those who are meek, those who are persecuted, etc. We see Jesus speak to and heal a leper, who was quite literally an outcaste in society. We see Jesus talk to and help women, even though women were like second class citizens compared to men. We see Jesus reach out to a Samaritan woman who was despised due to racism and due to her promiscuity. We see Jesus reach out to a woman caught in adultery and we see him stand up for her publicly, even though it probably created a lot of enemies for him. We see Jesus encourage children to come to him, even though others tried to keep the children from “bothering” an important man like Jesus. We see Jesus seek out an unpopular cheating tax collector who was hanging out in a tree. The list goes on and on. We see Jesus, the most important man who ever lived, invest his time, attention, and resources in people who were deemed unworthy by the rest of the world.
It is truly humbling to think about who Jesus interacted with and how.

It is so much easier for me to invest in, notice, listen to, and help people who love me, people who are pleasant, people who are popular, people who entertain me, people who are like me, people who can give me something, or people who can help me accomplish something (even many good things)! But Jesus calls me to so much more than this. When the opportunities come, Lord Jesus, don’t let me be too “busy” (read “self important” or “lazy” or “selfish” or “distracted by the wrong things”) to notice and obey in love!

Matthew 25:40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”


Galatians 6: 9 “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”


Proverbs 3 27-28 “ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. 28 Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it’—when you have it with you.”

Delight

I read this article on the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood website, and I just loved it.  I can't think of a single more important topic than delighting in the Lord.

http://www.cbmw.org/Blog/Posts/Delight

by Leanne Popeko

January 4, 2011

Psalm 37:4—we’ve heard it many times. “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” This verse pops up often in conversations about singleness. Though I’m thankful for the reminder when it does come up, I have to confess that I haven’t quite understood what it means to “delight in the Lord.” It sounds lovely, but what do I actually do to delight in Him? Can I honestly say I delight in Him now, and if I say yes, what examples could I produce that would prove it (to my own heart)?

Lately I’ve been thinking about what it means to delight in the Lord and I’ve come to the conclusion that I think it must begin with the gospel.



If the gospel is true: that we were created for perfect fellowship with the holy God of the universe, but because of sin we are separated from Him and our hearts, minds, and wills are all affected by that sin…

That apart from Christ, we are spiritually dead, we love darkness and hate things that are pure and holy, and we’re heading for an eternity apart from God where we’ll feel the weight of conscious guilt and torment with no relief possible…

BUT:

That God intervened into this desperate situation and appointed His own Son who had been with Him for all eternity, to come to earth to take on all of our sin and bear the wrath of God (who is a just God and must punish sin as an earthly judge would punish someone who broke the law…)

And that by the grace of God, through faith in Christ, we can be restored to the relationship with Him that we were created to have, and because of His mercy, when we repent of our sin, we’re forgiven of all of it and will enjoy the wonder of His presence for all of eternity…

If all these things are true (and they are), then shouldn’t that bring about the deepest expression of delight in our hearts and minds?

This delight can and should be felt by all believers. In fact, God Himself wants us to delight in Him because His Word tells us to.

Not only this, but there’s another crucial aspect to delighting in the Lord, and that is delighting in His Word. Delighting in Him is not merely a feeling of delight, but also an act of obedience and spiritual discipline through reading, learning, knowing, practicing, and treasuring His Word. There are so many passages in the Bible that talk about this. I’m just going to list some here:

Psalm 1:1-2 “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his DELIGHT is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night.”



Psalm 40:8 “I DELIGHT to do Your will, O my God, Your law is within my heart.”



Psalm 111:1-2 “Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart…great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who DELIGHT in them.”



Psalm 112:1 “Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly DELIGHTS in His commandments.”



Psalm 119:15-16 “I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I shall DELIGHT in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your Word.”



Psalm 119:24 “Your testimonies are my DELIGHT; they are my counselors.”



Psalm 119:35 “Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I DELIGHT in it.”



Psalm 119:47 “I shall DELIGHT in your commandments which I love.”



Psalm 119:92-93 “If Your law had not been my DELIGHT, then I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have revived me.”

So we can see a clear theme in Scripture that tells us that delighting in the Lord means delighting in His Word and following His commandments.

Although the idea of delighting in the Lord comes up a lot when talking about singleness, we understand that this isn’t only for singles. It speaks to all people, everywhere, regardless of marital status. How sweet a marriage must be if both parties delight in the Lord and in His Word. I’m convinced that if God brings a gentleman into my life someday, this quality of delight needs to be evident in his life (thus, it better be evident in my own life, too!) What’s more attractive than a person who is deeply delighted by the Savior? I can’t think of anything…

Delighting in the Lord comes from a heart that is consumed with a love for Him, because we understand the profound nature of what He has done. Certainly this doesn’t stop once we’re married. It’s not something to do because we have no other viable option as a single—because we have nothing else in life that brings us any joy. Gracious no! Delighting in the Lord should be our ultimate source of delight, period. And always! No matter what. It should continue until the day we get to glory, where we’ll spend an eternity of delighting in Him in ways we can’t comprehend until we get there.

I think we single folks can be tempted to think that marriage will bring us a certain delight that we’re unable to have without a spouse. Well, certainly it’s true that there are special things within marriage that a single person doesn’t experience, but, that doesn’t mean we lack the ability to know meaningful (and happy!) delight right now, right where we’re at.

In fact if we haven’t yet grabbed a hold of delighting in the Lord, I think this must be the root of what we feel we’re lacking, rather than marriage being the source of it. Fellowship with Christ and delight in Him has got to come first. Otherwise we might drain the life out of a spouse if we look to him or her to fulfill that deepest longing for delight and we’ll have this sense that we’re still missing something. Perhaps then we might even resent our spouse for not satisfying the deepest longings of our hearts, but really, that’s placing a requirement on him or her that isn’t biblical or even possible.

Delighting in the Lord is something we’ll be doing for eternity, so I think a lot of energy should be put into wrapping our minds around what it means to delight in Him now…and then as we delight in Him, Psalm 37:4 says He will give us the desires of our heart. I think this is because our hearts will be aligned with Him—His will becomes our will. We trust Him more and we begin to desire what He desires, believing that what He desires for us is for our very best. It becomes less about circumstances or things and more about an intimate fellowship with Christ.
I want to delight in the Lord—to treasure what He has done and what He has accomplished on the Cross—to understand what it means for those who believe in Christ, to know His Word and to follow Him with everything. There is nothing greater. Nothing purer. Nothing more beautiful. Nothing more exciting. Nothing more adventurous. Nothing that will thrill our hearts more or satisfy our deepest longings.
Because we were created to delight in Him.