Date-Dabitur just blew the dust off of a conversation between Nathan Chilton and his dad, David. It’s really funny (and profound) at spots, including:
Nathan: Well, why aren’t these people happy? Do they think heaven is a sad place to be?
Papa: I think they’re sad because they’re thinking about their sins.
Nathan: But they’ve been forgiven, and now they’re in heaven! They’re supposed to be thinking about Jesus!
Papa: Oh, they’re thinking of Him, too. They’re sad because they’re thinking about Him dying on the cross.
Nathan: But He’s not dying anymore. The whole reason we’re doing this is that He came alive, right?
Papa: Right.
Nathan: Well, I don’t think they could be sad about Jesus. I think they’re sad ’cause they had to eat those icky crackers and drink that dumb old Kool-Aid.
My favorite part was the following exchange (because it seems to sum up so many things for me):
Nathan: Is this as confusing to them as it is to me?
Papa: It might be if they thought about it much.
“Am I missing it, or is there an unusual silence in the blogosphere about the Muslim outrage over the cartoons of Mohammed. To me this cries out for the observation that when artists put the crucifix in a flask of urine, Christians were grieved and angered, but not one threatened to kill anyone. Our longing is to convert the blasphemers with the Good News of Christ’s death and resurrection, not kill them. Our faith is based on One who was reviled not just in cartoons but in reality and received it patiently for the salvation of the cartoonists. These riots are filled with intimations about the glorious difference between Christ and Mohammed, and between the way of Christ and the way of Islam. And the cowing of the press around the world and the US government is ominous for the fear we are under of Islam–not just extremist Islam. I do not respect the teachings of Islam which when followed devoutly lead to destruction. So I have been pondering which will take me out first, Islam, Uncle Sam, or cancer. No matter, all authority belongs to Jesus. I just want to bear faithful witness to his glorious gospel of peace to the end.” — John Piper
(Source: Justin Taylor, with thanks to Michelle Malkin for posting the cartoons.)
Thank God for men like John Piper, who aren’t afraid to speak the truth! It is indeed a stark contrast between the reaction of Christians and Muslims in their respective situations.
John Piper sends out once a week or so what’s basically an e-mail devotional, called Fresh Words. The one I got today is titled, “Enemies of the Cross and How to Respond to Them,” and I highly recommend it.
Anyway, toward the end of it (yes, I’m spoiling the ending!) Piper says this:
“My greatest longing in response to this enmity is that Christians walk in the way of the cross. Yes, militant Islam is big and threatening. It may even be the true Quranic Islam. There are alarmists whose whole tone seems to awaken political and even militant responses from Christians. My concern is that as the church we distance ourselves from this kind of response and focus on the truth that we will never spread the Christian faith by the sword. Some Muslims may kill to spread their faith. Some Christians have. But it is not the way of Christ. It is not the way of the cross.”
Amen! I’ve also got a new candidate for my e-mail signature: “We will die to make [Christ] known. But we will not kill to make him known.”
So if you ask me tonight, “All right, tell us then, what is the unwasted life? What does it look like? What is the essence of the unwasted life�” I just mentioned it: A life that puts the infinite value of Christ on display for the world to see. The passion of the unwasted life is to joyfully display the supreme excellence of Christ by the way we live. Life is given to us so that we can use it to make much of Christ. Possessions are given to us so that by the way we use them, we can show that they are not our treasure, but Christ is our treasure. Money is given to us so that we will use it in a way that shows money is not treasure, but Christ is our treasure.
The great passion of the unwasted life is to magnify Christ. Here is the text that, perhaps more than any other, governs what life is really about: Philippians 1:20-21. Paul says, “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.“
Paul’s all-consuming passion was that in his life and in his death Jesus Christ be honored, that is, that Jesus Christ be made to look like the infinite treasure that he is. The reason you have life is to make Jesus Christ look great. There is one central criterion that should govern all the decisions you make in life and in death: Will this help make Jesus Christ look like the treasure he is?
