Our pastor Rick, had a thought-provoking sermon on the second of the 10 commandments this morning. I was freshly convicted of my natural inclination to view God as one whose primary purpose is to make me happy. It’s the common sin of worshiping a god made in my image or as I want him to be. It’s very difficult to accept all facets of God as He reveals himself to be – he dispenses mercy and justice, brings joy and pain. It’s hard to fathom a love that allows the beloved to suffer. But that’s just what God did to his son Jesus when he allowed him to be tortured and killed for the salvation of sinners.
I’m keenly aware of this sinfulness because I’m prone to depression whenever there are major things in my life that I don’t like. It seems that every blessing that I can readily identify has an offsetting element of sadness that overwhelms the good part. Case in point, my beautiful son. The joy of having Riley in my life is coupled with heartache that I have to leave him with another caregiver for 55 hours a week. There are other examples. I naturally get angry at God for not caring about the things that really matter to me and sink into a depression, as I did on Friday (again).
What I know about the God of the Bible is that he wants me to be like Jesus – and that my holiness is more important to him than my happiness. I can’t deny that he’s blessed me – I just want more. So, during confession and the Lord’s Supper, I had a fresh repentance of my discontentment and rebellion against the God that didn’t spare his own son to give me salvation. Having a son of my own, I’m really blown away that God would allow his son to suffer for me. I’m trying to get my arms around that reality and find it’s too much to comprehend.
Anyway, I thought I’d post a link for those that might be interested:
http://ctkcambridge.org/sermons/9-30-2007.mp3
I love the part at the end about Jesus knocking at the door and the fire in the basement -- a little predestination humor that some of you will enjoy...
No comments:
Post a Comment