The best kind of night.

Today was a good day. Tonight was a great night. It may have been my favorite night out here so far.
After a day spent alone at home- laying out in the sun, listening to an audio recording of a Spurgeon sermon, playing with the puppy, beginning "Religious Affections," and going for a run- I went to Starbucks to put more work and thought into my study on Hebrews. Freshly showered with hair still wet, no makeup on and sunburned cheeks, sitting down with a peach iced tea lemonade and my study materials was just ideal. The sun had just set over the mountains and left the sky in an array of soft pastel colors. A sherbet sky. There's something about divine revelation in nature. It humbles me and gives me an overwhelming sense of gratitude for being given the privilege to know the Creator of all things and makes me fervently desirous to know Him more. We serve an awesome God, in the truest sense of the word. He is certainly worthy of all honor and glory and praise. Being moved to adoration through the means of His creation reminds me of my "creatureliness." I was created by God, and I was created for God. The purpose of the creature is to glorify and magnify the Creator. One writer puts it this way, "God created all things in the way that He chose. When created things (i.e. creatures) live according to the way He designed, we not only bring glory to Him but also find blessedness, peace, and fulfillment." And isn't that so true? At least I have found it to be true in my own life. It is in those times, when I catch even a small glimpse of the resplendence of God, that I am brought to adoration and feel the most "human." When I am compelled to praise and worship the Creator I realize that I am fulfilling my natural duty and purpose. And that gives me immense joy, unsurpassed peace, and a feeling of unity with my God. And that is what I was given tonight.
After finishing up my notes-- half forcedly since Starbucks was closing-- I was reminded of the Scripture I posted previously and, I think, for the first time I really understood the words and what Paul was saying. I had memorized the passage and individual verses many times, and have heard them spoken in my home, but never did they "click" like they did tonight, especially after my thoughts last night.

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made ME his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way...Only let us hold true to what we have attained." Philippians 3:12-16

Context helps, of course. Paul is saying that he has not attained what he previously mentioned, that is "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." He speaks of gaining Christ and being found in him, trusting by faith the righteousness imparted to him by His work at the Cross, and how it is his goal now to know Christ more fully. Christ has made him His own, and now he desires to respond to the grace he has been given by laboring to know Christ more fully through shared suffering in the hope of attaining the resurrection. And that so perfectly fits and describes what I feel and was thinking over last night. I love the relevance of Scripture and the unity of thought among the Saints- it really is a testament to the inerracy of God's perfect Word. 

Anyway, those were my thoughts on the way home from Starbucks, and that gave me EVEN MORE joy. Seriously, so much joy. Abounding joy. So I came home, took my pendleton blanket, a cup of hot chocolate, and my computer outside to sit under the beautiful night sky and listen to a sermon on the passage. I imagined that Piper would have a great sermon on the passage and, of course, I was right. The sermon was entitled, "Going Hard After the Holy God." Go listen to it. So good. After that I listened and sang along to a few hymns and just wept because of the goodness of God. None compare. And nothing compared to this night. I want to keep it in my memory forever. 

Here are a few quotes from the sermon that I really enjoyed:

"To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too easily satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart" -quoting A.W. Tozer

"We must go hard after Christ, because not to means that we don't want to know him. And not to want to know Christ is an insult to his value and a sign of spiritual stupor or deadness in us. But when you go hard after Christ, to know him, the reward is your joy and his honor."

"saving faith is not merely a one-time decision for Christ. Saving faith is an ongoing preference for Christ over all other values. The pursuit of Christ is the evidence of genuine faith in Christ as our treasure. Therefore, we must go hard after Christ in order to confirm our justification."

"The best commentary on Philippians 3:12 is Philippians 2:12–13: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you." Go hard after Christ, because Christ is at work in you! "Strive for . . . the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14), for the Lord is working in you what is pleasing in his sight (Hebrews 13:21). The reason the Bible can make our salvation depend on our pursuit of holiness without turning us into self-reliant legalists who have no assurance is that it makes our pursuit of holiness depend on the sovereign work of God in our lives. Work out your salvation, because God is at work in you. Your work is his work for his glory when done in dependence on his power. The most fundamental reason why you must go hard after Christ is that Christ is in you, moving you to go hard after him."

"The first step in going hard after the holy God, then, is to develop a holy dissatisfaction with your spiritual life. Stand in front of the mirror of the Word and recognize that you have not yet arrived. The hearty admission of our spiritual imperfections is the starting point for the pursuit of God."

But, let's be real, all of it was good. 

And a short playlist of what I listened to:

1. Be Thou My Vision- Andy Hull

2. Hallelujah! What a Savior- Ascend the Hill

3. Just a Closer Walk with Thee- The Avett Brothers

4. Oh to Be Loved- Page CXVI

5. This the Power of the Cross

6. Justice Delivers its Death- Sufjan Stevens