Paradoxical me

My wonderful mother sent me a package not too long ago containing a few things every college student needs..Thank goodness this one arrived to me on time, intact, and without dog food (don't ask). Unlike a package I received last year which caused my friends to think my mom was psycho, this one earned her some brownie points from the enclosed loose tea and dried mangos. Also included was a book by John Piper called Don't Waste Your Life. Since I have so much time on my hands (ahem..) I have been working through it at a slower-than-snail-like pace, but I have been gaining a lot from it nonetheless.

One of my favorite verses is in Philippians 1:21 where Paul says "for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Especially after looking at the context, it is so meaningful to me that even given his circumstances, Paul admits that his life is and must be all about Christ. He saw living as an opportunity to boast in Christ only, and he saw death as gain because then he could depart and be with him.This fits nicely with Piper's famous quote "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." It is so cool how these affections fit together if the focus is all on Christ. When this is the case, he is glorified, and we are so satisfied even just within the pleasure that it is to witness and grasp a little bit of God's character.

In chapter 4 of his book, Piper connects 1:21 "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" to the verse that preceeds it: "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death (1:20).The following is taken straight from his book and focuses primarily on the word "ashamed" in verse 20.

Stop here just a moment. Shame is that horrible feeling of guilt or failure when you don't measure up before people whose approval you want very much. It's what the little child feels in the Christmas program when he forgets his lines, and the tears well up, and the silence seems eternal, and the other kids snicker brutally. I remember these horrible times. Or shame is what a president feels when the secret tapes are finally played, and the foul language and all the deceit emerges, and he stands disgraced and guilty before the people..What then is the opposite of shame? It's when the child remembers the lines and hears the applause.. It's when the president governs well and is re-elected. The opposite of being shamed is being honored. Yes, usually. But Paul was a very unusual person. And Christians ought to be very unusual people. For Paul, the opposite of being shamed was not his being honored, but Christ's being honored through him." ("It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that..Christ will be honored in my body.")

It is points like these that Piper uses to teach what it means to waste life or to live it out as a good steward.  It has got to be all about Christ. Life? Death? Christ. It may seem so upside-down to this world..but even the world knows that it’s going to end someday..watch out, 2012 is coming!!..ha.

Just a few pages back, Piper concludes:

“If we do not learn with Paul the Christ-exalting paradoxes of life, we will squander our lives chasing pursuing bubbles that burst.”

And so friends, down is up, poor is rich, to be humbled is to be exalted, to lose all is to acquire much, to be last is to be first, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If in your life these things are proclaimed, and in your death you see meeting your Savior as more valuable than holding onto your time on earth, your life will inevitably have more value than you could ever assign to it yourself.

Live by the paradox,

Surely a life-long pursuit.