Early in the life of this blog, I posted pretty frequently about my founding premise and guiding principle: the idea that life is bittersweet, and some of the most revealing insights into the nature of our lives, and the goodness of Jesus Christ, emerge in those paradoxical moments when good and evil, pain and joy, dark and light, commingle.I stand by all of that, and you can still read those posts, although I talk about a lot of other things these days. However, when I cracked Spectacular Sins by John Piper, I couldn't resist passing along this excerpt:
We are pushing our way through a blood-spattered life that makes us feel connected to the world and disconnected at the same time. We are here but not here. Love binds us to the tragic earth, and love binds us to the Treasure of heaven. Christians are strange. Our emotions are inexplicable in ordinary terms.
If I may be so bold (as the ragged, penniless church planter complimenting the famous man): John Piper gets bittersweetness. And Spectacular Sins is shaping up to be a spectacular book.
I'm really looking forward to reading this book. Piper's quote that "Christians are strange. Our emotions are inexplicable in ordinary terms" reminds me of a quote by the Puritan Richard Sibbes:
ReplyDelete“A Christian is a strange person. He is both dead and alive, he is miserable and glorious. He grows downwards and upwards at the same time; for as he dies in sin and misery and natural death approaching, so he lives the life of grace, and grows more and more till he ends in glory.”
http://gospelreminders.com/2008/12/24/the-oxymoronic-christian/
Thanks for providing a Christ-centered blog. Look forward to many more clicks in the future.