One of the marks of Gospel wakefulness is the the failure of anything else to thrill the soul like the Gospel. When the heart enjoys Christ and savours His power, sin grows bitter. Even good gifts that God made recede to their proper flavours. Good things that we have made 'god things' don't cease to be good; in fact they continue to provide pleasures and satisfactions but they keep their proper functions and blessings in service to the common grace the God of glory ascribed to them.
Gospel wakefulness doesn't lead to asceticism. It does not lead to a withdrawal from society and simple pleasures into a monastic regimen. Rather, Gospel wakefulness is foremost about orienting your spiritual system around the sun. When the sun is the center of the solar system, the planets don't cease to exist. In fact they exist more securely, more beautifully, in their proper positions and proportions. With God at the centre of your universe of worship, with the Gospel at the centre of your life all other good gifts -peoples and pleasures, thoughts and things - take their proper place and proportion in our lives. They are more pleasing and enjoyable because they give the pleasures they are designed to give and no more.
Gospel Wakefulness, Jared C. Wilson, Pp 59-60
No comments:
Post a Comment