Here for my monthly check-in ;-). I'm on spring break right now, and it's been nice to have a breather for once. My school knows how to pile on the work, but after every semester, I feel like I've learned a lot. I'm definitely still in that time of knowing that I don't know anything in Japanese, but I can't say that's going anyway anytime soon. All it's going to take is hard work and time(which can be a problem at times...)
I started back on a book that I got for Christmas - Counterfeit Gods. I liked Timothy Keller's Reason for God so much, I asked my family to get another one of his books. It's very interesting and convicting, and I've only read the first two chapters. One half of me wants to read it all in one day, the other wants to take it slower so I can understand what it's saying.
The whole premise of the book is idolatry - trying to find our ultimate purpose in other things than God. According to Keller, "An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, 'If I have that then I'll feel my life has meaning, then I'll know I have value, then I'll feel significant and secure.'" (pg. xviii) He points out the strange reality put forth in Romans 1 - that if we are given over to the desires of our hearts, that could be the greatest punishment imaginable. This is because, "If we look to some created thing to give us the meaning, hope, and happiness that only God himself can give, it will eventually fail to deliver and break our hearts."(pg. 3)
The second chapter is called Love is not all you need (sorry Beatles - not exactly). It uses the backdrop of the biblical patriarchs to show a few truths about love.
For me, this is the most poignant part of the chapter, the part that sums up its message:
I started back on a book that I got for Christmas - Counterfeit Gods. I liked Timothy Keller's Reason for God so much, I asked my family to get another one of his books. It's very interesting and convicting, and I've only read the first two chapters. One half of me wants to read it all in one day, the other wants to take it slower so I can understand what it's saying.The whole premise of the book is idolatry - trying to find our ultimate purpose in other things than God. According to Keller, "An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, 'If I have that then I'll feel my life has meaning, then I'll know I have value, then I'll feel significant and secure.'" (pg. xviii) He points out the strange reality put forth in Romans 1 - that if we are given over to the desires of our hearts, that could be the greatest punishment imaginable. This is because, "If we look to some created thing to give us the meaning, hope, and happiness that only God himself can give, it will eventually fail to deliver and break our hearts."(pg. 3)
The second chapter is called Love is not all you need (sorry Beatles - not exactly). It uses the backdrop of the biblical patriarchs to show a few truths about love.For me, this is the most poignant part of the chapter, the part that sums up its message:
"The popular music and art of our society calls us to keep on doing it, to load all of the deepest need of our hearts for significance and transcendence into romance and love. "You're nobody till somebody loves you," went the popular song, and we are an entire culture that has taken it literally. We maintain the fantasy that if we find our one true soul mate, everything wrong with us will be healed. But when our expectations and hopes reach that magnitude, as Becker says, "the objects is God." No lover, no human being, is qualified for that role. No one can live up to that. The inevitable result is bitter disillusionment." (pg 29)
It really hit me hard, because those are the messages I hear everywhere - if you just find a guy, you'll have significance. But it's not true. One thing I've learned from the experience of others is that things can still be hard after marriage and the issues you've had before don't magically go away. And you can put unhealthy expectations on the other person that always lead to disappointment. Of course, all of this is theoretical to me, but it's just a good heart check. Where am I finding my identity? Is it in Christ first? Or in some unfulfilled desire?
More to come later...
Love, love, love...your insights here, my daughter!
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