Dear Church Family,
I had written something else for today, but my eye caught a booklet by John Piper that I have given to many over the last few years. It is titled “Don’t Waste Your Cancer.” Piper makes 11 points that I will highlight over the next few days with a brake for something special tomorrow. It is worth noting, even emphasizing, that his ministry is built on a profound truth: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” I must stress that for our purposes ‘Covid-19’ refers to the state of panic our country now faces. I do pray that none of us will be afflicted by the virus. With that in mind, and putting ‘Covid-19’ in place of cancer, here is his first point.
“We waste our (‘Covid-19’) if we don’t hear in our own groanings
the hope-filled labor pains of a fallen world.”
Sickness reminds us that we live a world that has been radically changed by the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Romans 5:12 teaches that death entered the world through the sin of Adam. As a result, Paul writes in Romans 8:19f that all creation now awaits a redemption that is yet to come. At the moment ordained by God (per v21) “creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” O how glorious it will be when our seemingly beautiful creation is freed from the damage of sin and we see all things made new! Most of all, we who are in Christ will be made new. That is the sure hope that is ours!!!
Piper observes, “The groaning of our (‘Covid-19’) has a double meaning. It means that sin is horrible, and it means that glorious freedom is coming. We will waste our (‘Covid-19’) if we don’t hear in our own groanings the labor pains of the new creation. Labor pains mean that something wonderful is coming.” Those of you who have birthed children may still remember those labor pains. No doubt the joy you had when you held your child close to you far outweighed the pain you endured.
Paul encourages the church at Corinth in the closing words of 2 Corinthians 4 to not lose heart. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Pastor Gillikin