Year's End

Year’s End

O LOVE BEYOND COMPARE,

Thou art good when thou givest,
When thou takest away,
When the sun shines upon me,
When night gathers over me.
Thou hast loved me before the foundation
Of the world,
And in love didst redeem my soul;
Thou dost love me still, in spite of my hard heart,
Ingratitude, distrust, another year,
Leading me through a twisting wilderness,
In retreat helping me to advance,
When beaten back making sure headway.
Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor,
With Thee as the blessed Pilot of my future
As of my past.
I bless Thee that Thou hast veiled my eyes
To the waters ahead.
If Thou hast appointed storms of tribulation,
Thou wilt be with me in them;
If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation,
I shall not drown;
If I am to die,
I shall see Thy face the sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot,
Grant me grace that my faith fail not;
If I am to be cast aside from the service I love,
I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify Thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,
As a chosen vessel meet always
For Thy use.

Taken from “The Valley of Vision”
A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

“According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so through fire.”

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

As people are preparing for the launch of 2010, many New Year’s resolutions are being made. However, few people actually keep the promises or accomplish the tasks they set out to achieve.
Maybe you have examined areas of your life that you want to change with the start of a new year and decade. I know that I have, but I don’t want to make just any New Year’s resolution. I want, by God’s grace, most of all, to be changed more into His image; the image of His perfect Son, Jesus Christ. How often I fail, yet His grace still amazes me.
The more I learn, the more I come to realized that God requires so much from our lives. “He gives all; He asks all,” Elisabeth Elliot once said. He has the right to ask everything of our lives simply because He is God. He is our Creator. He made us for Him. That alone is more than enough of a reason for our complete surrendering to His will. But that is not all. “He gives all.” How can I understand this incomprehensible truth? I deserved death, but “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved.)” (Eph. 4, 5)
I want to send out a challenge to you, and to myself, for this New Year. Dare to live a life of total abandonment to Jesus Christ. Dare to be different from the world. Dare to give your all for the sake of His Kingdom. Dare to reach out to that loved one or friend or colleague or stranger with the power of the Gospel. Dare to pray with the knowledge that God is almighty, omniscient, and sovereign.

If we do, I don’t have to dare you to see the results.

We’ll never be the same again.

If you were to die tomorrow, would the life you had lived be found to be worthy of what Christ accomplished for you on the cross? Would your witness and testimony be of one who surrendered all and breathed his or her last breath for the cause of the Kingdom?
I want to share with you a powerful song written and performed by Keith Green. After 21 years of life, God saved Keith and branded upon his soul the desire to give all of his being for Jesus Christ. He once wrote, “I’m not called to be a prophet. I’m called to be a CHRISTIAN – a servant of the living God! That is the HIGHEST calling that anyone can realize. And the most beautiful thing has happened in my heart – the only thing that I want to achieve is to have the Lord tell me when I stand before Him, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant!’ Not, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful prophet, or pastor, or writer, or singer, or anything else.’ To be a Christian – to live up to that wonderful word – that is my ONLY goal.”
God gave Keith a wonderful ministry that has touched countless people for generations. At age 28, only 7 years after his conversion, Keith was killed in a plane accident. God gave him seven years, and Keith, though he never knew how short the time he had, never waited to begin living his life for God, a life that poured forth the brilliance of Jesus Christ, without reservation and without shame.

Please listen to the song below and take some time to ponder the lyrics. I confess that the first time I saw this video I was quick to judge the outward appearance. Maybe the clothing and hairstyle may seem out of date or the music style may not be your type, but please see this man for his passion. His love for Jesus and his boldness to speak the truth cuts quite deep. May God forgive us for our apathy and grant us the strength to serve Him with our all.

“He gives all; He asks all.”




Asleep In The Light by Keith Green

Do you see, do you see, all the people sinking down,
Don't you care, don't you care, are you gonna let them drown,
How can you be so numb, not to care if they come,
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done.

Oh Bless me Lord, bless me Lord, you know it's all I ever hear,
No one aches, no one hurts, no one even sheds one tear,
But He cries, He weeps, He bleeds, and He cares for your needs,
And you just lay back and keep soaking it in, oh, can't you see it's such sin?
Cause He brings people to your door,
And you turn them away, as you smile and say,
God bless you, be at peace, and all Heaven just weeps,
Cause Jesus came to your door, you've left Him out on the streets.

Open up, open up, and give yourself away,
You've seen the need, you hear the cry, so how can you delay,
God's calling and you're the one, but like Jonah you run,
He's told you to speak, but you keep holding it in,
Oh, can't you see it's such sin?

The world is sleeping in the dark,
That the church can't fight, cause it's asleep in the light,
How can you be so dead, when you've been so well fed,
Jesus rose from the grave, and you, you can't even get out of bed,
Oh, Jesus rose from the dead, come on, get out of your bed.

How can you be so numb, not to care if they come,
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done,
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done,
Don't close your eyes, don't pretend the job's done.

Come away, come away, come away with Me, My love,
Come away, from this mess, come away with Me, My love.

The Christmas season is a time of year where it is so easy to get caught up in all the excitement and rush of the big celebration. However, most of the world is completely missing the true meaning of Christmas: Jesus Christ! He is the greatest gift that was ever given and everyday we experience that gift through all the blessings we have in and through Him. I pray that this holiday would be a time of reflection and meditation for us. Through all the busyness, let's sit back and ponder the love of God. It was He who wrapped human flesh around Himself, coming to earth in the form of a tiny baby to save mankind. Let's give Him the glory this Christmas season!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Glory’s King to humble earth
Heaven’s sweetness, lowly birth
In a manger lay a King
In midnight skies the angels sing
Bethlehem’s King is born today
No golden cradle; a bed of hay
Shepherds gather round the Light
Whose brightness changed their watchful night
Heaven’s glory from God’s right hand
His infant Son, the perfect Lamb
Not princes, kings, nor Magi there
Did come to worship Heaven’s heir
But in a humble manger lay
God’s glory on a bed of hay

By Sarah Champ

"What kind of a God is it who asks everything of us? The same God who ‘did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all; and with this gift how can He fail to lavish upon us all He has to give?’ He gives all. He asks all.” -Elisabeth Elliot

Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God

I have recently finished reading this excellent book by John Piper called, "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ." It is a life changing book because Pastor Piper unashamedly presents to us Jesus Christ, in all His glory; in a way we never new Him before. I intend to share this book with you through my blog over the next couple of weeks. And what better time to learn about the person of Jesus than now, especially as we remember His glorious birth!

"The heavens declare the glory of God." Psalm 19:1

"God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6

Chapter One ~ Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God

The Ultimate Aim of Jesus Christ

The created universe is all about glory. The deepest longing of the human heart and the deepest meaning of heaven and earth are summed up in this: the glory of God. The universe was made to show it, and we were made to see it and savor it. Nothing less will do. Which is why the world is as disordered and as dysfunctional as it is. We have exchanged the glory of God for other things (Romans 1:23).

'The heavens declare the glory of God' (Psalm 19:1). That is why all the universe exists. It's all about glory. The Hubble Space Telescope sends back infrared images of faint galaxies perhaps twelve billion light-years away (twelve billion time six trillion miles.) Even within our Milky Way there are stars so great as to defy description, like Eta Carinae, which is five million times brighter than our sun.

Sometimes people stumble over this vastness in relation to the apparent insignificance of man. it does seem to make us infinitesimally small. But the meaning of this magnitude is not mainly about us. It's about God. "The heavens declare the glory of God," says the Scripture. The reason for "wasting" so much space on a universe to house a speck of humanity is to make a point about our Maker, not us. "Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these [stars]? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing" (Isaiah 40:26).

The deepest longing of the human heart is to know and enjoy the glory of God. We were made for this. "Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth...whom I created for my glory,"says the Lord (Isaiah 43:6-7). To see it, to savor it, and to show it - that is why we exist. The untracked , unimaginable stretches of the created universe are a parable about the inexhaustible "riches of his glory" (Romans 9:23). The physical eye is meant to say to the spiritual eye, "Not this, but the Make of this, is the Desire of your soul." Saint Paul said, "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2). Or, even more precisely, he said that we were "prepared beforehand for glory" (Romans 9:23). This is why we were created - that he might "make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy" (Romans 9:23).

The ache in every human heart is an ache for this. But we suppress it and do not see fit to have God in our knowledge (Romans1:28). Therefore the entire creation has fallen into disorder. The most prominent example of this in the disordering of our sexual lives. Paul says that the exchange of the glory of God for other things is the root cause for the homosexual (and heterosexual) disordering of our relationships. "Their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature... the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another" (Romans 1:26-27). If we exchange God's glory for lesser things, he gives us up to lived- out parables of depravity - the other exchanges that mirror, in our misery, the ultimate sellout.

The point is this: We were made to know and treasure the glory of God above all things; and when we trade that treasure for images, everything is disordered. The sun of God's glory was made to shine at the center of the solar system of our soul. And when it does, all the planets of our life are held in their proper orbit. But when the sun is displaced, everything flies apart. The healing of the soul begins by restoring the glory of God to its flaming, all-attracting place at the center.

We are all starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go? Because there is greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding self. Indeed, what could be more ludicrous in a vast and glorious universe like this than a human being, on the speck called earth, standing in front of a mirror trying to find significance in his own self-image? It is a great sadness that this is the gospel of the modern world.

But it is not the Christian Gospel. Into the darkness of petty self-[reoccupation has shone "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4). The Christians Gospel is about "the glory of Christ," not about me. And when it is - in some measure - about me, it is not about my being made much of by God, but about God mercifully enabling me to enjoy making much of him forever.

What was the most loving things Jesus could do for us? What was the endpoint, the highest good, of the Gospel? Redemption? Forgiveness? Justification Reconciliation? Sanctification? Adoption? Are not all of these great wonders simply means to something greater? Something final? Something that Jesus asked his Father to give us? "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me" (John 17:24).

The Christian Gospel is "the gospel of the glory of Christ" because its final aim is that we would see and savor and show the glory of Christ. For this is none other than the glory of God. "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature" (Hebrews 1:3). "He is the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). When the light of the Gospel shines in our hearts, it is "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). And when we "rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2), that hope is "our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). The glory of Christ is the glory of God.

In one sense, Christ laid the glory of God aside when he came: "And now, Father, glorify me together in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed" (John 17:5). Therefore, in the Gospel we see and savor "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). And this kind of "seeing" is the healing of our disordered lives. "We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

A Prayer ~

O Father of glory, this is the cry of our hearts - to be changed from one degree of glory to another, until, in the resurrection , at the last trumpet, we are completely conformed to the image of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Until then, we long to grow in grace and in the knowledge of his glory. We want to see it as clearly as we see the sun, and to savor it as deeply as our most desired pleasure. O merciful God, incline our hearts to your Word and the wonders of your glory. Wean us from our obsession with trivial things. Open the eyes of our hearts to see each day what the created universe is telling about your glory. Enlighten our minds to see the glory of your Son in the Gospel. We believe that you are the All-glorious One, and that there is none like you. Help our unbelief. Forgive the wandering of our affections and the undue attention we give to lesser things. Have mercy on us for Christ's sake, and fulfill in us your great design to display the glory of your grace.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen."

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, Revised Edition

Author: John Piper

Copyright 2004 by Desiring God Foundation