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What Mommy's Been Reading - The King's Cross

I've already alluded to it, but for the season of Lent, Phil and I have been reading Timothy Keller's newest book, The King's Cross.  I must say that it was powerful.  I came away with a greater sense of who Jesus really is and how significant His death on the cross really was.

I wanted to share one passage that was particularly meaningful to me.  Timothy Keller begins one of his early chapters explaining the "dance" of the triune God.  The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all gave and received perfect love from one another in a sort of dance between three distinct persons in one most holy God.  Keller then goes on to say:
Why would a triune God create a world? If he were a unipersonal God, you might say, "Well, he created the world so he can have beings who give him worshipful love, and that would give him joy." But the triune God already had that - and he received love within himself in a far purer, more powerful form than we human beings can ever give him.  So why would he create us? There's only one answer.  He must have created us not to get joy but to give it.  He must have created us to invite us into the dance, to say: If you glorify me, if you center your entire life on me, if you find me beautiful for who I am in myself, then you will step into the dance, which is what you were made for.  -pg. 9-10
This one quotation meant so much to me.  I guess I never realized how much I have struggled with the question, "Why am I here?" Sure, I've been familiar with the first question of the Westminister Catechism which asks, "Q. What is the chief end of man? A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever."  But this question didn't sustain me because it left me only with what I was supposed to do, but not why God decided to put me here in the first place.  Did God need me to glorify Him?  Was that why I was created?  But herein lays why I was so taken with Timothy Keller's insight.  God didn't need me to love Him; He already had perfect love within Himself.  No, He created me so He could love me; so we could love each other.  So I could become part of His dance.  That is something I want to live for.  That gives me purpose.

This concept sets the tone for the rest of The King's Cross.  Keller leads us through the Gospel of Mark showing just how important it was to God that we were able to be with Him.  From the incarnation to the cross, Jesus fights for us.  He rescues us from ourselves and the Evil One that we might be able to glorify and enjoy Him forever - and at such great cost!

This book was powerful.  I highly recommend it.
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