Loving God

Living & Loving to Please God

/ Dennis Griffith / 5 Comments

Steve Brown, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary and president of Key Life Network, penned a marvelous word picture of the motive and expression of a life gripped by God’s grace:

When I became a Christian, two things happened. I got saved, and I got loved.  I got loved so deeply that it still amazes me when I think about it. Because I got loved so deeply, I want to please the One who loved me that much. I may not always please him – sometimes I even run in the other direction, because his love can really hurt.  I may chafe against pleasing him; I may not even speak to him. But I’ll tell you something: I want to please him, and when I don’t please him, it hurts. Now if I really want to please him, I must know what pleases him. I find that out by reading the Word and listening to his commandments. When I know what he wants, I want what he wants. Love does that to you.  But I must know what he wants. That is why we must never soften the teaching of the Law of God. Holiness is a very important teaching as long as it is given in the context of God’s love.

~ from When Being Good Isn’t Good Enough

A Christmas Reflection

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

Consider Mary’s response to the angel.

The angel has come to Mary and says: “Mary, you are going to give birth to the long-promised  Messiah.” This was a unique promise, and unrepeatable. There is something totally unique here: the birth of the eternal second Person of the Trinity into this world.

What was her response?

  • She could have rejected the idea and said, ‘I do not want it: I want to withdraw; I want to run’…
  • She could have said, ‘I now have the promises, so I will exert my force, my character, and my energy, to bring forth the promised thing’.

But what she did say is beautiful, it is wonderful. She says:

‘Behold, the bondmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy Word.’   – Luke 1.38

There is an active passivity here. She took her own body, by choice, and put it into the hands of God to do the thing that he said he would do, and Jesus was born.  She gave herself to God…

This is a beautiful, exciting, personal expression of a relationship between a finite person and the God she loves.

~ Francis Schaeffer, from True Spirituality