Chapter 6 of When I Don't Desire God
I'm back at blogging. March was exceptionally hectic getting some tasks accomplished at work. But enough biography for now.
In chapter 6 of Piper's When I Don't Desire God, he gives a compelling, one-sentence definition of sin. He writes,
"God is infinitely valuable, and we have offended him infinitely by valuing other things more" (p 72).
This is why sin is so tricky. It's not just about "doing bad things." That is part of it. But sin also includes "doing good things for bad reasons," not to mention desiring, pursuing, and valuing the wrong things. Sin is, fundamentally, "valuing other things more" than we value God.
Depression, despair, and grumbling are complex, but they all at least embrace a distortion of valuing the right things. The greatness of God seen in the gospel once again draws us towards valuing the right things: the Holy God mercifully sacrifices his only Son for unworthy sinners in order to make them right with Him, thereby opening the eyes of their heart to value Him as they ought.
In chapter 6 of Piper's When I Don't Desire God, he gives a compelling, one-sentence definition of sin. He writes,
"God is infinitely valuable, and we have offended him infinitely by valuing other things more" (p 72).
This is why sin is so tricky. It's not just about "doing bad things." That is part of it. But sin also includes "doing good things for bad reasons," not to mention desiring, pursuing, and valuing the wrong things. Sin is, fundamentally, "valuing other things more" than we value God.
Depression, despair, and grumbling are complex, but they all at least embrace a distortion of valuing the right things. The greatness of God seen in the gospel once again draws us towards valuing the right things: the Holy God mercifully sacrifices his only Son for unworthy sinners in order to make them right with Him, thereby opening the eyes of their heart to value Him as they ought.
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