My wife and I were traveling today to visit someone in the hospital. The roads were winding....due to a detour....and I therefore could not pay as much attention to the John Piper sermon as I would normally be able to do....but I had enough wherewithal or presence of mind to be stunned by the profundity of about a hundred words put together in a series....two-thirds of which were repeated over and over. The sermon title is....The Greatest Thing In The World....if you wish to Google it and listen for yourself. The simple three word question leading up to these words was....."What is sin?" Piper answered that question in a different way from which we might be more familiar. I'm highlighting this concept in a post because today our minds might go into....redaction mode.....when the word sin is mentioned....for....blah blah blah....or yada yada yada....we think that we already know what sin is.....but when described as it is below....it might force us to....or at least encourage us....to meditate upon....and examine ourselves a little more intensely than we usually do....and we might therefore not feel so detached from the issue. Here it is:
"What is sin?
The glory of God not honored.
The holiness of God not reverenced.
The greatness of God not admired.
The power of God not praised.
The truth of God not sought.
The wisdom of God not esteemed.
The beauty of God not treasured.
The goodness of God not savored.
The faithfulness of God not trusted.
The commandments of God not obeyed.
The justice of God not respected.
The wrath of God not feared.
The grace of God not cherished.
The presence of God not prized.
The person of God not loved."
I don't know about you....but it caught my attention....and I could see myself in every example.
