Mirrors
I was preparing our worship set this week, and while doing so, I read some great quotes by John Piper. I'm so moved by his words; they are always convicting and compelling. Whenever I read him, he makes me want to stop whatever I am doing, sell all of my possessions, and become a missionary to some far-off tribe in Africa or China. He moves me to action, and he makes me want to do something for the glory of the Lord and the advancement of His kingdom. So I love to incorporate his thoughts, along with Scripture, into our worship on Sunday mornings.
This quote stood up off the page:
"God created us for this: to live our lives in a way that makes Him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that He really is. This is what it means to be created in the image of God."
It struck me that being created in the image of God means that we are like mirrors. We can be turned in toward ourselves, magnifying whatever it is that we are going through or whatever desire we have -- our pain, our depression, our greed, our glory, our hopelessness, our struggles, our *you fill in the blank* -- or we can be turned out and up to reflect Him in all of His splendor and majesty and goodness and power and mercy and compassion and graciousness and faithfulness and holiness and all that He is. Whenever we are tempted to complain or grumble or wallow in self-pity/self-reflection or to magnify our own importance, we are turning the mirror in toward ourselves. We -- and I say this especially to myself -- need to turn that mirror up toward Him and reflect and magnify Him in ALL circumstances, regardless. As Philippians 4:4 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!" The more we magnify and reflect Him, especially in the middle of our trials, the more He is glorified, and that is that chief end of man, our chief purpose in life: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
As John Piper also wrote, "The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. At such moments we are made for a magnificient joy that comes from outside ourselves."
What comes to mind is the verse after which my blog was named -- "more of You" -- 2 Corinthians 3:18 -- "And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more."
I want to reflect Him more.
Here is the John Piper link I've been reading from:
This quote stood up off the page:
"God created us for this: to live our lives in a way that makes Him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that He really is. This is what it means to be created in the image of God."
It struck me that being created in the image of God means that we are like mirrors. We can be turned in toward ourselves, magnifying whatever it is that we are going through or whatever desire we have -- our pain, our depression, our greed, our glory, our hopelessness, our struggles, our *you fill in the blank* -- or we can be turned out and up to reflect Him in all of His splendor and majesty and goodness and power and mercy and compassion and graciousness and faithfulness and holiness and all that He is. Whenever we are tempted to complain or grumble or wallow in self-pity/self-reflection or to magnify our own importance, we are turning the mirror in toward ourselves. We -- and I say this especially to myself -- need to turn that mirror up toward Him and reflect and magnify Him in ALL circumstances, regardless. As Philippians 4:4 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!" The more we magnify and reflect Him, especially in the middle of our trials, the more He is glorified, and that is that chief end of man, our chief purpose in life: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
As John Piper also wrote, "The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. At such moments we are made for a magnificient joy that comes from outside ourselves."
What comes to mind is the verse after which my blog was named -- "more of You" -- 2 Corinthians 3:18 -- "And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more."
I want to reflect Him more.
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