Humility and Hell

"When Francis Chan speaks of hell, the vapor of his tears smells like love." - John Piper



I absolutely love how God speaks through Francis Chan. Every good Christian pastor and teacher will properly delineate the chasm between an imperfect human sinner and a perfect and holy God. But it seems like when Francis does it, you just feel it deeper. When I hear him talk, I want to be more humble. I want to be more pragmatic and measured in my responses to believers and non-believers alike. I still have a tendency to want to jump into a conversation when I see God's truth being misstated or twisted or ignored. I would do better to allow the other person to speak more to better understand their heart, attitude and beliefs. I would do better if my responses were more steeped in love rather than motivated by being right.

You can speak God's truth out of pride and it will still be truth...but it won't be received nearly as well as if it was spoken out of love and humility. God is teaching me that through Francis.

Most importantly, I want to be more humble in my relationship with God. I want to be more yielded and submitted. I want to desire God's glory more than my own and in ever greater measure.

When I first saw this video, I immediately thought of a couple people I have witnessed to multiple times over the years only to find time and again that their intellect and reason proved to be the biggest obstacle in making God the treasure of their hearts and lives. However, I know I do this as well. Within those areas, I need God to humble me so that my life would better reflect His glory.

"Humility is beyond our reach. If it were a product of reaching, we would instinctively be proud of reaching it. It is a gift." - John Piper

"Erasing Hell" book review:

http://www.bloggingtheologically.com/2011/07/05/book-review-erasing-hell-by-francis-chan-and-preston-sprinkle/

http://www.christianhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/themes/muddy/pdfs/hell.pdf

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/hell/

http://kellerquotes.com/hell-and-heaven/

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-presence-of-the-lamb-and-the-sufferings-of-hell


"Eternity is the never ending fulfillment of what you pursued in this life." - J.R. Vassar