For many years, I have tried to understand how God’s centrality in itself relates to his love for sinners like me. Many people do not see God’s passion for their own glory as an act of love. One of the reasons for this is the fact that we have absorbed the global definition of love. The world says: you are loved when you are pampered.
- The biggest problem with this definition of love is that when we try to apply it to God’s love for us.
- It distorts reality.
- God’s love for us is not revealed primarily in that He values us.
- But in that it gives us the ability to rejoice.
- If we centralize and focus God’s love on our worth.
- We turn away from how precious He is.
- Love fights and suffers to captivate us with what is infinite and eternally satisfying: God Himself.
- Of God works and suffers to annihilate our slavery to the idol of?Me.
- And focus our affections on God’s treasure.
We can see this, surprisingly, in the history of Lazarus’ illness and death, in John 11:1-6:
1- Lazarus, from Bethania, from the people of Mary and her sister Martha, was sick.
2- This Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was the same one who anointed the Lord with balm and dry her feet with her hair.
3- The sisters of Lazarus then sent Jesus, saying, Lord, he that you love is sick.
4- Upon receiving the news, Jesus said: This disease is not for death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified.
5- Now Jesus loved Martha, his sister and Lazarus
6- Therefore, when I learned that Lazarus was sick, it took another two days to get to where he was.
Notice three admirable things:
1. Jesus decided to let Lazarus die. In verse 6 we read: “Therefore, when I learned that Lazarus was sick, they spent another two days where he was. “There was no hurry. Jesus’ intention was not to prevent the family from suffering, but to resurrect Lazarus from the dead. This would be true even if Lazarus was already dead when the messenger came to Jesus. He let Lazarus die or stay longer, to show that he was in no hurry to bring immediate relief from suffering. Something more important led him.
Jesus was motivated by the love of God’s glory, manifested in his immense power. In verse 4, he said, “This disease is not for death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified. . “
However, the decision to let Lazarus die and the motivation to glorify God were expressions of love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. The Evangelist John shows it to us by the way he joined verses 5 and 6: “Jesus loved Martha, his sister, and Lazarus. So when I found out Lazarus was sick, did it take another two days to get to where he was?
A lot of people including believers? They murmured that Jesus, insensitively, let Lazarus die and allowed Martha, Mary, and Lazarus and others to go through this suffering and misfortune!And if our contemporaries realized that Jesus was doing this motivated by a desire to magnify glory. of God, how many would not regard Jesus’ attitude as insensitive and severe?This reveals how many more people feel they are living a life without suffering than in the glory of God. For most people, love is what puts human well-being at the center of everything. Therefore, Jesus’ behavior is illogical for such people.
We cannot teach Jesus what love means, we cannot tell him how he should love us and put us at the center of everything, we must learn from him what love and true well-being means, love does all that is necessary. to help others see and experience the glory of God in Christ, for ever and ever. Love keeps God at the center, because the soul was created for God.
In the words of his prayer, Jesus confirms that we are right: “Father, my will is that where I am, those you have given me, also be with me, so that they may see the glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ? (Jn 17, 24). We can assume that this prayer is an act of love for Jesus. But what did He ask? He asked us, in the end, to see his glory. His love for us makes it central. Jesus is the only Being whose self-exaltation is an act of sublime love. This is true because the most satisfying reality that we can know is Jesus. Therefore, to give us this reality, Jesus’ love moved him to pray and die for us. , not so that our value became central, but so that his glory became central and that we could see and enjoy it for all eternity. Is this my will? Are you also with me? so that you can see my glory? This is what Jesus means love us. Divine love works and suffers to captivate us with what is infinite and Completely satisfying: God in Christ. Oh! Shall we see the glory of Christ? for which he let Lazarus die and for which he went to the cross.
Excerpt from the book: Penetrated by Palavra, by John Piper. Copyright: © FIEL Editor 2009 The reader is authorized to disseminate and distribute this text, provided that it does not change format, content and / or translation and report the credits of authorship, translation and copyright. If in doubt, contact Editora Fiel.