Love Her More and Love Her Less - John Piper

The God whom we have loved, and in
Whom we have lived, and who has been
Our Rock these twenty-two good years
With you, now bids us, with sweet tears,
To let you go: "A man shall leave
His father and his mother, cleave
Henceforth unto his wife, and be
One unashaméd flesh and free."
This is the word of God today,
And we are happy to obey.
For God has given you a bride
Who answers every prayer we've cried
For over twenty years, our claim
For you, before we knew her name.

And now you ask that I should write
A poem - a risky thing, in light
Of what you know: that I am more
The preacher than the poet or
The artist. I am honored by
Your bravery, and I comply.
I do not grudge these sweet confines
Of rhyming pairs and metered lines.
They are old friends. They like it when
I bid them help me once again
To gather feelings into form
And keep them durable and warm.

And so we met in recent days,
And made the flood of love and praise
And counsel from a father's heart
To flow within the banks of art.
Here is a portion of the stream,
My son: a sermon poem. It's theme:
A double rule of love that shocks;
A doctrine in a paradox:

If you now aim your wife to bless,
Then love her more and love her less.

If in the coming years, by some
Strange providence of God, you come
To have the riches of this age,
And, painless, stride across the stage
Beside your wife, be sure in health
To love her, love her more than wealth.

And if your life is woven in
A hundred friendships, and you spin
A festal fabric out of all
Your sweet affections, great and small,
Be sure, no matter how it rends,
To love her, love her more than friends.

And if there comes a point when you
Are tired, and pity whispers, "Do
Yourself a favor. Come, be free;
Embrace the comforts here with me."
Know this! Your wife surpasses these:
So love her, love her, more than ease.

And when your marriage bed is pure,
And there is not the slightest lure
Of lust for any but your wife,
And all is ecstasy in life,
A secret all of this protects:
Go love her, love her, more than sex.

And if your taste becomes refined,
And you are moved by what the mind
Of man can make, and dazzled by
His craft, remember that the "why"
Of all this work is in the heart;
So love her, love her more than art.

And if your own should someday be
The craft that critics all agree
Is worthy of a great esteem,
And sales exceed your wildest dream,
Beware the dangers of a name.
And love her, love her more than fame.

And if, to your surprise, not mine,
God calls you by some strange design
To risk your life for some great cause,
Let neither fear nor love give pause,
And when you face the gate of death,
Then love her, love her more than breath.

Yes, love her, love her, more than life;
O, love the woman called your wife.
Go love her as your earthly best.

Beyond this venture not. But, lest
Your love become a fool's facade,
Be sure to love her less than God.

It is not wise or kind to call
An idol by sweet names, and fall,
As in humility, before
A likeness of your God. Adore
Above your best beloved on earth
The God alone who gives her worth.
And she will know in second place
That your great love is also grace,
And that your high affections now
Are flowing freely from a vow
Beneath these promises, first made
To you by God. Nor will they fade
For being rooted by the stream
Of Heaven's Joy, which you esteem
And cherish more than breath and life,
That you may give it to your wife.

The greatest gift you give your wife
Is loving God above her life.
And thus I bid you now to bless:
Go love her more by loving less.


http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/poems/love-her-more-and-love-her-less

God is the Gospel - Lesson 6

Defining the Gospel

Event - Death and Resurrection

Achievement - Atonement/Payment

Offer - Salvation by Faith

Application - Living in Light of the Gospel

1 Cor 15:1-4 

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

When Christ died the wrath of God was absorbed by Him. 

Gal 3:13  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"—

Christ paid the debt for our sins.

1Pe 2:24  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 

Christ's life of perfection opened the door for us to own His righteousness.

Rom 5:19  For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 

Christ purchased eternal life for us.

Rom 5:20  Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 

Rom 5:21  so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through (Christs) righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God is the Gospel - Lesson 5

"For God so loved the world..." 

What is is about this statement that is remarkable? Is it because it shows the inherent value of the world? We are so great that even God loves us? No! rather it is a statement about the remarkable nature of God, that He loves us even though we are inherently unlovely.

God derives joy from us finding our joy in Him. God delights in us delighting in Him. I should find my joy in every gift because I find my joy in God. God likes to see me deriving pleasure from His gifts. And even seeking pleasure in His gifts but never to the point where the gifts are the focus. 

I can glorify God by being. If the heavens can declare God's glory by simply being, how much more can I declare Gods glory by just being. The heavens are beautiful even though they are lifeless. I am created in the image of God, full of life, with a will, emotions, passions, actions, thoughts, and desires. 

God is the Gospel - Week 3

Philippians 1:19-21

For I know that through your prayers and the help of the 

Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 

as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all 

ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will 

be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Being ashamed and being courageous are put at odds in this passage. The reason we can be courageous is that living means more of Christ, He is glorified and His nature is exemplified, and dying means more of Christ, we see Him face to face. Whether we live or die we have great gain. So I am not ashamed, not because I am being honored, but because Christ is being honored. 

22-23

If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. 

Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 

I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is 

to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

Philippians 3:7-8

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of 

Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing 

worth of knowing Christ Jesus my lord. For his sake I have

suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, 

in order that I may gain Christ.

What is Love? 

Commonly to be loved is to be made much of. To me made to feel good about yourself. A person feels loved when they are made to feel significant. 

Biblical love means: God loves us by doing everything he need to do, at great cost to himself, to remove every obstacle that keeps us from knowing Him. God's love has no place for boosting egos and making people feel falsely good about themselves. God's love is a love of absolute truth. God is the only one who can perfectly love by pointing to Himself as the end-all. 

How do love and glory relate to each other? God's love and His desire to show His glory are work perfectly together. Because the expression of God's glory is best for us, God's perfect love is perfectly fulfilled by showing us His glory. Jesus purposefully let Lazarus die because he loved Mary and Martha. He knew that it would be better for them to see him raised than to see him healed. 

Love is when God gets you to God. 

Something Inspirational

Just kidding. I don't really have anything to say. So this is the part where I proceed to say nothing.
I'm not really sure about a lot of things right now. Definitely no profound statements or confident claims coming from this direction.
I've been working at Summers Auto Sales for about 2 1/2 months now. Apparently they like me. I looked for an EMT job today. No success on that front. Part of me wonders if I really want to work in EMS. Another part of me knows I do. At least for a while. I've wondered if saving peoples lives will give me some great sense of accomplishment or purpose. I don't think it really will. Real satisfaction doesn't seem to come from what I do. I know this.
Change is coming. Maybe not quickly. Maybe it will be slow and hardly noticeable. Maybe it will happen overnight. I want to see it coming and prepare. But I don't know what will change, or how.
I want to do something. Something bold. Something that says 'I refuse to live in monotony.' But the only things I can think to do are the same things I do every day. Every week. And I guess that's not bad. How does the saying go, 'The way you spend your minutes is the way you spend your life'?
I want to invest in people. And I do. Sometimes. I want to be better at this.  I don't want to be too lazy or too scared to love the people around me.
I want to live more conscious of the constant presence of God. He said, 'Abide in Me.' I want to stay there. Not just hang out on weekends.
I think I need a hobby. And probably another paycheck. Why do those always have to go together?

God is the Gospel - Week 2 Day 1-4

Spiritual Gifts
According to 1 Cor. 12:4-12 why does God supply manifestations of the Spirit?
For building up the church and encouraging individuals.
What is the 'more excellent way' talked about in vs. 31?
More important than spiritual gifts is love. Without love spiritual gifts are worse than useless.
Signs and Wonders
God often authenticates His works by signs and wonders, however false signs and wonders are shown all the time to try to lead people away from God. How do we differentiate between true and false signs and wonders?
The true work of God will always line up with His revealed nature. God never contradicts Himself. True signs and wonders always give glory to God. False signs and wonders lift up the individual as great.

God is the Gospel - Day 3-4

Day 3
Isaiah 64:4
From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.

2 Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

Acts 17:24-25
The God who made the world and everything in it, being lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Mark 10:45
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

What is the truth that runs through all these passages? God is the giver of life and the supporter of those who wait blamelessly for Him. God works for us. He doesn't wait for us to work for Him.
What is the danger of twisting this truth? We begin to lose responsibility for our actions. We blame God for our failures and expect Him to spoon-feed us all our successes.


Day 4
Do we only desire God?

Psalm 73:25-26
Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Is there any place for a desiring anything other than God? God gives His children good gifts. If we take those gifts and look to them as the giver of please they become idols, but if we accept them as gifts from God, give Him glory and thanks, and enjoy them as the expression of God heart, then they are truly good. Taking pleasure in a gift is not wrong. Looking to the gift as the source of pleasure, rather than the giver of the gift, is wrong.
Augustine - “He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with
Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.”

1 Timothy 4:4-5

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,  for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.