I wrote a post a couple of days ago about how so many around me are suffering right now...with major, major life/death issues/sicknesses. Please read that post before you read this one if you haven't already. Today, as I was perusing John Piper's sermons, I came across one entitled "Christ and Cancer". It would be well worth your time to go to this link and listen or read this sermon by John Piper. But in case you don't have time, I want to post an excerpt from this sermon that goes right along with what I was writing about.
"Satan may be sly but on some things he is stupid, because he fails to see that all his attempts to despoil the godly are simply turned by God's providence into occasions for the purifying and strengthening of faith. God's goal for his people in this age is not primarily to rid them of sickness and pain, but to purge us of all the remnants of sin and cause us in our weakness to cleave to him as our only hope.
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; for those whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives . . . he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews 12:5, 6, 10, 11)
All the affliction that comes to the children of God, whether through persecution or sickness, is intended by God to increase our holiness by causing us to rely more on the God who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1:9)."
-John Piper "Christ and Cancer"
No comments:
Post a Comment