Would you rather be perfect or forgiven?

I've asked this question to myself and to my kids: Would you rather be perfect or forgiven? My natural instinct is to prefer to be perfect. I feel better about myself when I am perfect - when I don't make any mistakes (at least not any that people know about). But I am not perfect. And my failures frustrate me. But I realized a while back that my failures bring me an opportunity to experience something better than being perfect - being forgiven. You see, if I was perfect, people would probably always treat me okay - just because they'd have no reason not to. But when people treat me well when they have a reason not to - when they forgive me - then I know I am loved. And, when I stop and think about it, I would rather be loved and know it than be perfect and wonder if anyone really loves me. Would I rather be perfect or forgiven? I thank God that, in His wisdom, He did not make me perfect. Because as an imperfect person I have the opportunity to know that I am loved - by other people, and most of all by God.

Although he might not say it the way I say it here, perhaps umpire Jim Joyce would also say that he'd rather be forgiven than perfect, after the response to his mistake Wednesday night, and to his admirable confession of his mistake. (Note especially Joyce's comment that "I've probably been at an all-time low, and steadily climbing to, I guess, an all-time high, I guess.")

Romans 11:32 "For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all."

To you it has been granted...

Philippians 1:29 - "For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake."

Is the idea that God would grant us "to suffer for His sake" foreign to us? Do we not think that suffering is a sign that something is wrong and needs to be fixed? It is as clear as can be here: Suffering for Jesus' sake is a gift from God. We must think about the Christian life in ways that include this idea. And we must be prepared for future suffering, so that when it comes, we can see it as a gift from God, and we can rejoice the way Paul did. How can we prepare for suffering? One way is to read the Bible and to take it seriously - especially the promises that God has made about the future and the benefits that will come to those who suffer for Jesus' sake. Perhaps then we will be able to believe that it really is a blessing to be able "to suffer for His sake."

Our proud confidence

2 Corinthians 1:12 - "For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you."

Often, my confidence - or lack of it - comes from my perception of what other people think of me or of what I have done. But Paul's example shows us that our confidence ought to come from our own conscience. Can we say that we have conducted ourselves in holiness and godly sincerity? Even though those things (holiness and godly sincerity) do not guarantee that we won't make mistakes or that people won't misunderstand us, they should give us confidence.

What if we hope in Christ in this life only?

A comment from today's Bible reading blog:

1 Corinthians 15:19 - Have you ever heard someone say that even if our belief in Jesus isn't true, it still makes our life better and is worth believing? But what does Paul say? "If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied?" Why? Because hope in Christ involves self-denial and suffering. What would be the point of those things if Christ has not been raised? How would we be "better off" in that case? Doesn't this prove that the main way that we benefit from believing in Christ is in eternity, rather than in this life?

A Powerful Quote

"The question, brothers, is not whether we will die, but whether we will die in a way that bears much fruit."

This is from John Piper's biographical message about Adoniram Judson, who died 160 years ago this past Monday. The blog post caught my eye because Judson, the first American foreign missionary, gave his life to take the Gospel to Myanmar (Burma), a place that, Lord willing, I will be teaching in the not too distant future. Many of the ABTS students in Myanmar come from the result of Judson's work.

Great Deals on Great Marriage Books

The Westminster Bookstore is offering some great deals on some excellent books on marriage. They are offering Paul Tripp's "What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage" for $8.99 instead of $21.99 and John Piper's "This Momentary Marriage" for $5.00 instead of $17.99. You can access these deals here. The deals are only good until Friday, April 16th at 3pm.

Why?

From today's entries on Cross Point's Bible Reading Blog.

Matthew 27:46 - This also tells us that something more was going on than the physical suffering that eyewitnesses could have seen. Jesus was suffering the wrath of His Father, which included being forsaken by the One with whom He had enjoyed perfect fellowship from eternity past. Imagine a child calling for help from his father, only to have his father turn and walk the other way. His cry, "Why have your forsaken me?" would not be a noble, symbolic statement, but a cry of desperation and rejection. This, I am convinced, is how we should hear Jesus' cry here.