"Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you."
(Psalm 63:3)
"Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God. No one sins out of duty. We sin because it hold out some promise of happiness. That promise enslaves us until we believe that God is more to be desired that life itself (Psalm 63:3). Which means that the power of sin's promise is broken by the power of God's. All that God promises to be for us in Jesus stands over against what sin promises to be for us without him. This great prospect of the glory of God is what I call future grace. Being satisfied with that is what I call faith." "The promises of future grace are the keys to Christlike Christian living. The hand that turns the key is faith, and the life that results is called living by faith in future grace. By future I do not merely mean the grace of heaven and the age to come. I mean the grace that begins now, this very second, and sustains your life . . . By grace I do not merely mean the pardon of God is passing over your sins, but also the power and beauty of God to keep you from sinning. By faith I do not merely mean the confidence that Jesus died for your sins, but also the confidence that God will 'also with him graciously give us all things' (Romans 8:32)" ~ John Piper, 'Futre Grace' |
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