“God is the wealthiest person in the universe. He not only owns more than anyone else. He owns everyone else and everything everyone else owns. When you create something, it belongs to you. And God created everything – including us.” These were the first words I read this morning in John Piper’s Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ. Upon reading them, I immediately became excited because I thought, “Oh boy! I am about to be encouraged that all riches come from God and He is the provider of all my needs if I just wait on Him!” Well, I forgot whom I was reading… Piper. The chapter was actually on the wealth of the compassion and mercy of God. It was all about how God’s wealth does not reside in all He owns, rather it is in who He is. Piper made an interesting statement about how God’s wealth could not be measured by His creation alone because that would mean that His wealth was diminished pre-creation. In other words, God’s wealth would be dependent upon us, His creation. He went on to give example after example of the mercies Jesus exampled while on earth, mercies that were given solely out of compassion and not duty or compulsion. Jesus’ miracles were all compassionate and merciful in nature; none were done as acts of entertainment. You could argue against this with the walking-on-water and coins-in-the-fish’s-mouth type of miracles, as done more out of convenience for Jesus’ sake but look at the results of those miracles. They helped strengthen and solidify faith… faith that is necessary for salvation. Jesus could have simply appeared across the lake or reached in His tunic and pulled out money, or whispered a command to the wind and waves, but He didn’t. He chose to show the power of the Father in Him in order to help feeble and sinful hearts and minds come to believing faith in Him.
While I was reading I became very convicted. I have been so caught up in my situation that I have stopped focusing on the lost. My prayers have been so saturated with pleas for my family and for the families of those ministering along with us that I have neglected prayers for those we were called to minister to. Now there is nothing at all wrong with my prayers for support, providence, and rescue, but my heart and mind have been so captured by these things that I stopped thinking about those outside of my inner circle. I call this condition Spiritual Myopia, and I usually attribute it to sectarian fundamentalist churches that become so nearsighted that they only look inward and not outward. These churches become so caught up in making sure they take care of their “members” that they forget the mission to which all Christians have been called. Now I haven’t forgotten my mission, but I feel like I have put that part of my prayer life on hold. Many of you reading this may say that it is ok to be a bit inwardly focused right now because I am going through some tough times, and that I can re-focus once these issues are taken care of. I rebuke you! (Get thee behind me…) That is not biblical; it is humanist. Our Lord, on the brink of betrayal and calamity did not withdraw and become myopic. No, instead He prayed for us (John 17). He prayed for those who presently knew Him, and for those who would know Him in the future (vs. 20).
Father, I am so ashamed that my focus has drifted from Your mission and purpose. I know that I am not ignoring it, but things have been competing for my affection. My fear and insecurity have caused me to cling to only part of Your character. Please help me to continue to have a vision and compassion for the culture in which you have sent me. Help me to pray for the lost. Help me to pray for them to see the great riches of Your mercy, even as it is demonstrated in my life. You are to be treasured above all things. Without You we are devastated, and it is evil for me to keep that to myself. Thank you so much for Your mercy! I am destroyed without it, and I cling to it every day that I live. I wait in anxious expectation for Your mercy and grace to continually manifest itself my life and I pray that it would flow from there into the lives of others.
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