Archive for December 2013

“[S]aving grace . . . is God’s giving us a sovereign joy in God that triumphs over all other joys and therefore sways the will.  The will is free to move toward whatever it delights in most fully.  But it is not within the power of our will to determine what that sovereign joy will be.” [1]

Some Background Info

Before I dive right into this topic, perhaps some background would be helpful. The quote above comes from John Piper’s book God’s Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards.  In the first part of the book, Piper gives a brief biography of Edwards; included in this section is Piper’s own personal story of how he encountered Edwards’s writings and the impact they have had on his life and ministry.  The quote comes from the section in which Piper talks about his experience of reading Edwards’s book The Freedom of the Will.  This book is Edwards’s most influential philosophical treatise ever written.  In context, the quote above comes from Piper summarizing Edwards’s own view of free will.  Speaking personally, I have enjoyed the first part of this book so much that this was my second time reading through it.

Explaining the Quote

I mentioned a few days ago on Facebook that I hoped to offer some thoughts on this quote from Piper.  As I’ve reflected on how to begin, I think the best place to start is with the latter part of the quote and then work my way back to the beginning of the sentence.  With that said, here goes nothing: In the second and third sentences Piper writes, “The will is free to move toward whatever it delights in most fully.  But it is not within the power of our will to determine what that sovereign joy will be.”

These were the words God spoke to me in 2010, after I had been released from my fourth NFL team in two years.  I was frustrated, hurt, and disappointed that despite all the obstacles and adversity I overcame in my five years in college, I was finally living my childhood dream of playing in the…