"The point of every deadly calamity is this: Repent."
"Let our hearts be broken that God means so little to us. Grieve that he is a whipping boy to be blamed for pain, but not praised for pleasure. Lament that he makes headlines only when man mocks his power, but no headlines for ten thousand days of wrath withheld."
John Piper, quoted from article, Tsunami and Repentance, January 2005
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8 comments:
Hmmm. This quote bothers me. The view of God "witholding wrath" reminds me of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Theologically accurate, perhaps, but far from complete.
I know we hear that he is a jealous God in the OT. But in the NT we learn that "God is love." A jealous lover seems very different than a wrathful avenger.
Maybe I just don't like to think about how much my sin angers and saddens God.
Marcus,
I wonder if what Piper is saying is that we should MAKE every disaster a time of repentance. Not that God demanded it and not that God brought about the disaster.
But when disasters come, it is a time to consider how many people are angry at God and how silent we are during all the times that God is blessing us.
Mark
Like you, I find that I don't like to think about how my sins angers and saddens God. However, without considering this truth, we easily lose sight of what Jesus really did for us.
God is indeed love but we savor that truth more when we see clearly the extent of our rebellion.
RLP
Well said. Every calamity calls us to reflect on grace shown to us and provides an opportunity to respond in repentance
Isn't it funny how we can be so generous regarding our own angers over injustice (and our desires for vengeance) but we want God to be different? What's that about?
LL,
That's insightful - we think we have a right to be incensed over a gross injustice, especially when it's perpetrated against us. Yet, when we're the perpetrators against a holy God, well that's a different matter altogether.
That is an amazing quote! It can certainly be challenging to wrap our unsanctified minds around God's holy wrath when the world's reference point of human experience looks more like impulsive episodes of sinful temper tantrums.
Most of us think of ourselves as the Very Important People in this universe...even when we know enough theology to know it isn't true.
We're centered on ourselves and sadly, often God is marginalized.
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