Piper on our Fixation with Personal Comfort

These words from John Piper, written shortly after 9/11/01, are worthy of significant consideration:

There is a mindset in the prosperous West that we deserve pain-free, trouble-free existence. When life deals us the opposite, we have a right not only to blame somebody or some system and to feel sorry for ourselves, but also to devote most of our time to coping, so that we have no time or energy left over for serving others.

This mind-set gives a trajectory to life that is almost universal - namely, away from stress and toward comfort and safety and relief. Then within that very natural trajectory some people begin to think of ministry and find ways of serving God inside the boundaries set by the aims of self-protection. Then churches grow up in this mindset, and it never occurs to anyone in such a community of believers that choosing discomfort, stress, and danger might be the right thing - even the normal, biblical thing - to do. 

-- John Piper, The Roots of Endurance, 18

There is enough in those two paragraphs to chew on for days. It cuts right to the heart of many hot-button political and societal issues. But more to the point, it calls us to ask some tough questions about how we as believers and as churches live in the world.

Soul Mates or Sole Mates

Just read an absolutely outstanding article by Gary Thomas called "Soul Mates or Sole Mates." I'd say it is suggested reading for every unmarried Christian over age 16 or so.

The gist:

The search for “the one” is often an idolatrous pursuit. As Christians, we must believe that our primary meaning comes from our relationship with God: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness…” (Matt. 6:33) Thus, a Christian should not consider any marital union that would not feed this primary relationship with God...

Can I suggest a more biblical pattern? Instead of following Plato in a wild pursuit of our soul mate, we should seek to find a biblical “sole mate.” A sole mate is someone who willingly does the shoe-leather application of living out biblical love.  

Again, I think the entire article is good and very important. I commend it to you highly

Satan's game plan vs. God's game plan

"If Satan's basic game plan is pride, seeking to draw us into his life of arrogance, then God's basic game plan is humility, drawing us into the life of his Son. The Father can't think of anything better to give us than his Son."

-- Paul Miller, The Praying Life, 236