Boasting in Lesser Loves
I don’t always love to boast most about God. I love to boast about tricky anagrams. (Can you anagram diesel? What about brides?) I love to rave over my cute little boy. I go on and on about happy hour at McCormick and Schmick’s. I tell every Christian I know about John Piper.
But none of these things are God. So there’s a limit to how much I ought to praise them. I don’t want to make people sick with my exuberance about word games or babies. I don’t want to promote happy hour or Piper so much that people will be disappointed when they actually try for themselves. I sometimes have a feeling inside me that asks, “Are these your idols?”
But one day all of this will change. I won’t have to worry that these pleasures are competing with God in my heart. Our lesser joys will fade away when we see Christ before our own eyes.
Anagrams? Christ is the author of life!
My son? Christ is the image of the unseen God!
Happy hour? “Come and I will give you rest!”
Piper? Well, he’s still pretty cool. But Christ is the one who knit him together!
Suddenly our greatest ambition will be God himself and it will finally be right for our praise to be limitless. We will be at the happy intersection of highest admiration and highest praise, and that joy we had praising our lesser loves will finally be redeemed and realized when we boast in our great God.
But none of these things are God. So there’s a limit to how much I ought to praise them. I don’t want to make people sick with my exuberance about word games or babies. I don’t want to promote happy hour or Piper so much that people will be disappointed when they actually try for themselves. I sometimes have a feeling inside me that asks, “Are these your idols?”
But one day all of this will change. I won’t have to worry that these pleasures are competing with God in my heart. Our lesser joys will fade away when we see Christ before our own eyes.
Anagrams? Christ is the author of life!
My son? Christ is the image of the unseen God!
Happy hour? “Come and I will give you rest!”
Piper? Well, he’s still pretty cool. But Christ is the one who knit him together!
Suddenly our greatest ambition will be God himself and it will finally be right for our praise to be limitless. We will be at the happy intersection of highest admiration and highest praise, and that joy we had praising our lesser loves will finally be redeemed and realized when we boast in our great God.
- Taken from "Desiring God"'s blog
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