He did not die to make this life easy for us or prosperous. He died to remove every obstacle to our everlasting joy in making much of him. And he calls us to follow him in his sufferings because this life of joyful suffering for Jesus’ sake (Matt. 5:12) shows that he is more valuable than all the earthly rewards that the world lives for (Matt. 13:44; 6:19-20). If you follow Jesus only because he makes life easy now, it will look to the world as though you really love what they love, and Jesus just happens to provide it for you. But if you suffer with Jesus in the pathway of love because he is your supreme treasure, then it will be apparent to the world that your heart is set on a different fortune than theirs. This is why Jesus demands that we deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow him.
John Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World, p. 71
Archive for September, 2011
“Suffering for Jesus with joy shows his supreme value” – John Piper
Posted in Quotes on September 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The Word never grows old
Posted in Scripture on September 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »
As I prepared to speak to the men of the seminary last week, I realized these verses on God’s intentionality and sovereignty over disability simply never lose their power.
And I am grateful he let’s me see these verses as good news. I pray the same for you.
Exodus 4:11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” John 9:1-3 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” Psalm 139:13-16 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.Common graces are everywhere
Posted in News on September 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I have a Google+ account; I don’t know how to use it.
But I really like the fact that Google+ just made it possible for deaf people who use sign language to more easily access one of Google+’s popular features.
I love how God does things like that – takes a service probably created by people who never even think about God and makes it useful beyond its original intentions and limitations.
Maybe even for spreading the gospel! Wouldn’t that be something!
Here’s a short video on the new function. You will need to turn on the close captioning so you know what she is communicating. You can do so by clicking on the little (cc) button at the bottom of the video after you click play.
Unless you already know sign language, of course!
God wins, again
Posted in News on September 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Pat Robertson’s comments about abandoning a marriage when a spouse has Alzheimer’s are reprehensible. Dr. Russell Moore and Ed Stetzer have both provided helpful responses.
Greg Lucas did an equally helpful thing – he pointed to how God has won, again, in this tweet from Friday:
Thankful to God for using Pat Robertson’s mouth to ignite a firestorm of passion for His glory in disability. (Romans 8:28)
There are dozens, maybe hundreds, maybe thousands, of stories being told today that refute Mr. Robertson’s remarks – stories of faithful men and women who persevered for years in caring for and loving a disabled spouse (ironically, Mr. Robertson references one such man in his remarks). Those stories may never have been told otherwise. How many people in that exact situation today are being encouraged that they aren’t crazy and they aren’t alone, that it is both right and worth it to care right to the end.
God uses even thoughtless, sinful remarks to bring glory to his name and to help people living with disability. He is entirely, eternally amazing! And he is entirely trustworthy to keep all his promises:”He will not leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
Thank you, Russell Moore
Posted in News on September 16, 2011| 2 Comments »
And thank you to Justin Taylor for pointing to Russell Moore’s post on the atrocious words that came from Pat Robertson:
This week on his television show Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson said a man would be morally justified to divorce his wife with Alzheimer’s disease in order to marry another woman. The dementia-riddled wife is, Robertson said, “not there” anymore. This is more than an embarrassment. This is more than cruelty. This is a repudiation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Dr. Moore carefully unpacks why Pat Robertson’s words are so vile.
But he ends with a beautiful picture:
Jesus tells us he is present in the weak, the vulnerable, the useless. He is there in the least of these (Matt. 25:31-46). Somewhere out there right now, a man is wiping the drool from an 85 year-old woman who flinches because she think he’s a stranger. No television cameras are around. No politicians are seeking a meeting with them.
But the gospel is there. Jesus is there.
And I would add, somewhere out there is a dad taking care of his adult disabled son, wiping drool from his face, making sure he is clean and fed, never receiving a thank you in return or even acknowledgment that it matters. But the father never quits loving his child.
Is that not like how God the Father treats us?
Suffering has a great purpose – sanctification
Posted in Quotes on September 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Thank you to Dr. Mark Struck for pointing me to this quote from J.C. Ryle:
Suffering is a part of the process by which the children of God are sanctified. They are chastened to wean them from the world, and make them partakers of God’s holiness. The Captain of their salvation was made perfect through sufferings, and so are they. There never yet was a great saint who had not either great afflictions or great corruptions. Philip Melancthon said it well: “Where there are no cares, there will generally be no prayers.”
J.C. Ryle
Pray for the next printing of ‘Just the Way I Am’
Posted in News on September 13, 2011| 2 Comments »
Good news! Another printing of Just the Way I Am by Krista Horning either has or is about to begin. Since it is being done in Asia, it will be several weeks before copies are available here.
Please pray that all goes well in this new production with a new publisher, and that all the copies would arrive here safely. From what I understand, the book is exactly the same except for a new publisher page just inside the front cover.
I’ve been hearing stories about how this book has been used – public school (!!) Special Education departments, hospital and clinic waiting rooms, Sunday school classes, pre-marital counseling, foster homes, small groups, and, of course, one-to-one with parents, grandparents and loved ones.
May God be pleased to do it again! I’ll be sure to make it obvious when copies are again available in the United States.
Praising God for answering unasked prayers
Posted in commentary on September 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Francis Chan provided a great perspective on unanswered prayer in a video on the DG blog on Friday. If you haven’t watched it, it is worth the 2.5 minutes!
But God reminded me on a couple of occasions this past week how much he is for me, even though I didn’t come to him at all.
The school district decided to change the bus schedules, which seriously and negatively impacted our morning responsibilities. I was mentally working through our options for several days, and not coming up with anything particularly helpful.
On the first day of school God just went ahead and provided a great gift that solved the whole thing. And THAT was when I realized I had never come to him even once with this problem.
Of course I was grateful to God and thanked him for helping us. But I also needed to ask forgiveness for not bringing this thing to him in the first place. The joy and gratitude I felt was tempered by my knowing my battle against my willful, sinful independence continues. But there was still a lot of joy and gratitude!
God knows what we need before we ask (Matthew 6:8), but that isn’t an excuse not to ask him. Jesus himself taught us how to pray and lived a life full of prayer. And Paul taught us to ‘pray without ceasing’ (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
I want to live like that; I don’t want anything getting in the way of my joy in God! I pray you do as well.
There is an extraordinary event coming that is unlike what we’re remembering today
Posted in Uncategorized on September 11, 2011| 1 Comment »
Today is a sad day of remembrance.
Like the extraordinary events of previous generations – the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the assassination of President Kennedy, for example – I can immediately answer the question of where I was on the morning of September 11, 2001 when I heard an airplane had struck a tower in New York.
None of my children can do that. They will have their own extraordinary event someday.
It would be beyond wonderful if that event was the return of Jesus! What an extraordinary event that will be!
Someday. . .
Until that day let us not forget that in addition to the thousands who died in New York and Pennsylvania and the Pentagon, thousands more became disabled – like the first responders who are developing cancers related to breathing the poisonous fumes or the survivors who have lived with crippling depression and anxiety since that day.
God knows what we all need. He will help us.
I appreciated the prayer posted by The Gospel Coalition for this day. It also ends with a great plea: Come Lord Jesus!
All conference audio and video for The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability are now available at Desiring God!
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These are the men who will tell me the truth about God
Posted in commentary, Prayer Requests on September 15, 2011| 1 Comment »
I spent a wonderful two hours with the first-year students in the Bethlehem Seminary on Wednesday. Yes, I was talking about disability and some of the hards things associated with it.
And also about God’s word. I love how the Bible is full of God’s pointing us to his glory through disability! It was easy to share that part of the story with them. I hoped to encourage them that people like us, in the pews, can love the word and what it teaches us about our God.
I almost began to cry, somewhere in the middle of my time with them, at the goodness of God in providing these men, most of them young men in their 20’s, who are earnestly seeking God – with head and heart – for the purpose of proclaiming his glory.
These men are preparing to stand in the gap for me and for you – against a culture that prizes comfort and hates those with disabilities, against theologians and ‘teachers’ who seek to strip the word of its meaning and undermine God’s sovereignty, against even the evil in my own heart.
They are preparing themselves to tell the truth about God. It is God’s sovereignty over all things, including disease and disability, that provides the ultimate hope and access to joy.
It was a privilege to be in their presence and imagine what God might be preparing them to do, for his glory and for our good. Please pray for Bethlehem College and Seminary students. The future of the church will be in their hands, and I look forward to watching what God has in store to make his name great through them.
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