Not long ago on my Facebook page, I retweeted a quote from John Piper. He wrote, “So much deep, heart-wrenching sorrow of regret among 60 somethings. I plead with you under 40: Preempt this!” A lively discussion followed about what the quote meant and how it applies to our lives. What follows is a portion of that discussion.
When it comes to having perspective in this world, there are “look-at-ers” and there are “see-through-ers.” It was Norman Grubb who coined those terms, and he’s expressing the idea that you can look at something and just evaluate it on the surface, or you can look deeper.
Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
A few years ago, my wife Nanci showed me an article she had found in her Family Circle magazine. The article was titled "What You Pass On." It was written by author Stephen King. He's not a writer known for his theological insights, but what he wrote echoes the wisdom of Ecclesiastes 5:15 in his assessment of the futility of materialism. Buffet, Gates and Jolie will weigh in afterward. Here's what King has to say:
A couple of years ago I found out ...
C. S. Lewis said, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
In the final eight minutes of this three part video, Jim Harrell, dying of ALS but living with an eternal perspective, says, “Suffering is the icy cold splash that wakes us up from the complacency of living this life. We truly don’t see God and his purpose and strength without suffering, because we just become too comfortable.”
If you didn't see the first two parts of the video, check ...
See my previous blog to learn a little about my friend Jim Harrell, who has ALS, and watch the five minute video that precedes this one.
Or, just go straight to the ten minute one below. I guarantee you, this ten minutes will bring more to your day than almost anything else. It's eternal perspective brought into a life through suffering, in God's gracious providence.
I'll post part three on Friday.
(Click here if you are unable to view the video.)
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In the past year I've gotten to know Jim Harrell, a friend I've exchanged emails with and talked with once on the phone. I interviewed Jim on the subject of suffering for the book I'm currently writing. Jim has read some of my books, including Heaven, and wrote me telling his story. Turns out we have a mutual friend, Chris Mitchell.
One Saturday morning in 2003, Jim received a call delivering the kind of news no one wants to hear. His doctor told Jim he had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's ...
Blog before last I started a series on longing. I’ll pick up here where that left off.
Scripture often describes our longing for God as a deep hunger or thirst. Hunger and thirst are basic drives in our bodies, and there is also a hunger and thirst of the soul. This fallen world, with its fallen people, can never satisfy our fallen selves. But we keep going back to it, as if it can. We set our sights on the objects of a thousand different desires, none of which give us the lasting pleasure we long for.
Passages like ...
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