The Dangerous Duty of Delight

An excerpt from the book

The Dangerous Duty of Delight

If you are a guide on a sightseeing trip, and you know that the people are longing to enjoy beauty-even willing to risk their lives to see it-and you come upon some breathtaking ravine, then you should show it to them and urge them to enjoy it. Well, the human race does in fact crave the experience of awe and wonder. And there is no reality more breathtaking than Jesus Christ. He is not safe, but He is stunning.

God has put eternity in man’s mind and filled the human heart with longing. But we know not what we long for until we see the breathtaking God. This is the cause of universal restlessness. Hence the famous prayer of Saint Augustine: “You made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace till they rest in you.”

The world has an inconsolable longing. It tries to satisfy the longing with scenic vacations, accomplishments of creativity, stunning cinematic productions, sexual exploits, sports extravaganzas, hallucinogenic drugs, ascetic rigors, managerial excellence, etc. But the longing remains….

The tragedy of the world is that the echo is mistaken for the Original Shout. When our back is to the breathtaking beauty of God, we cast a shadow on the earth and fall in love with it. But it does not satisfy.

“The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them… For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have yet visited.”

On Faith

 

 

There comes a moment when we need to make a statement of faith. I’m not talking about a collection of theological truths written on paper; I’m talking about a statement of faith written with our lives. Faith is not a noun; it’s a verb – an action verb. The greatest and truest statement of faith is a life well lived. It is faith fleshed out through risks and sacrifices. It is daring to go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention.

Chosen for Prayer

 

An excerpt from:

A Gospel Primer

When God chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world, He did not merely choose me to be “holy and blameless“; He chose me also to be “before Him in love.” To be sure, I am always in God’s presence on earth, and in heaven I will be in His presence more fully than ever. But it could also be said that in this life I am especially “before Him in love” when I come ‘before Him’ in prayer and worship.

Therefore, I can infer that prayer is not simply something I am allowed to do as a Christian; prayer is actually one of the great purposes for which God chose to save me. Christ Himself confirms this fact when He makes the following statement to His disciples: “I chose you . . . that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” As a chosen on of God, I was saved to pray; and whenever I come into God’s presence to behold Him, worship Him, or make request of Him, I am arriving at the pinnacle of God’s saving purposes for me.