Longing for a Holiday at Sea

Marcy draws sermons. She challenged me to do so sometime. I did it once – listening to John Piper speak about Isaiah 6:1-4.

I attempted to illustrate Piper’s seven points:

God is Alive    God is Authoritative    God is Omnipotent    God is Resplendent    God is Revered    God is Holy     God is Glorious

Piper finished his talk by taking us to John 12, where Jesus quotes Isaiah 6: 10 (the condemnation of Judah God tells Isaiah is to prophecy), then says:

“Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.” John 12: 41 NIV

The passage continues:

Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God.  John 12: 42

Piper then challenged us to consider if we love the glory of man more than the glory of God.

Wow. That cut to the core. I wept at the degree to which I care more about people’s opinions of me than about reflecting God’s glory. In essence, I steal His glory.

I pray that someday God’s infinite value will be as sweet to me as it is to Piper.

Meantime, here’s the illustration of Piper’s talk.

Today’s Readings: Isaiah 5:1-6:13, Psalm 105:16-36-15, Proverbs 24:28-29, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58. See About for what I’m up to with these daily posts. Your daily blogger, Holiday Longing (Reproduce with permission only)