Piper "..a happy flavor on what is often stereotyped as a dour theology"

Piper on the contribution of "Desiring God" on Christianity in America in the last 27 years.

Mitch Majeski & John Piper - Video 4 from waterbrook multnomah on Vimeo.

We are all looking for rest...

“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.” 

Blaise Pascal

Is this perpetual sadness a problem or is it just being realistic?

Dr. David Powlison - Help! I'm Always Sad from CCEF on Vimeo.

"From His fullness we have received" - Part 1

And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. (John 1:16)

Much more than the Giver, Jesus is the Gift of Christmas.  Part 1 of Summitview's series "From His fullness we have received" examines how.

"All things were made through Him"- from Sunday, November 28th.

What's in it for Him?

Jesus showed his supreme love of the Father in His obedience to death (John 10:14-15,17-18). But how did the Father show His love for the Son? What made the crucifixion of the Son an expression of fatherly love?

Answer: The joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2), namely, the intimacy, acceptance, mutual love and trust with the elect. The reward for Christ’s atoning work was the restoration of perfect love between Creator and creature (John 10:27-29). To the degree that Christ showed His love for the Father in His obedience to the Father, the Father showed His love for the Son by granting Him this desire (John 17:24 ) and drawing the Church home (John 6:44).

You may be weary from disappointment with human love. You may feel distant from God. You may be crashing from the sugar high of indulging in created things. If so, have you considered this? What more does He need to say? Look to the greatness of Christ and to the Cross of Christ until your soul is warmed again. His desire is to do more than forgive. Forgiveness is not an end; it is a means to an end. Yes, the display of His glory is His first objective, but how is that glory most clearly put on display? Answer: In His perfectly-loving, personally-loving, and justice-satisfying sacrifice that brought you to God and secured your joy in Him forever. To get that, He endured the Cross and mocked its shame.

Under the sun, nothing has meaning

I'm struggling a little with my late thirties. A deep insecurity that speaks "I'm missing something" nags at my conscience. The conversations in my head begin with questions; existential questions.

Shouldn't I have a bigger impact on the world by now?
Am I leading my family to glory or ruins?
How can I be so restless and exhausted at the same time?

In my twenties existential questions were less specific ("What is the meaning of life?") and a matter of vanity. They marked the deep, pipe-smoking, thoughtful hipster. Today they are natural and necessary. Or are they?

The book of Ecclesiastes is meant to give an unsettling answer to all of our existential questions. It's premise is simply... "So what? Why bother yourself with these questions? What does anything under the sun mean anyway?" In this book, it seems that Solomon is throwing in the towel on life.  He has just won the Experimentation Superbowl and concluded it was ALL a waste of time... or would be if it weren't for joy. It seems God's plan is that we be happy in the experiences of life that would be meaninglessness apart from God but, when they are received as from his hand, act as excellent pointers to His power and grace. "Joy", as Lewis put it, "is the serious business of heaven." God is glorified as we live in the meaningless moments- joyfully connected to Him. The Ecclesiastical-ly meaningful life exists joyfully in the present with God not fretfully in the past or future without Him.

Doug Wilson's Joy at the End of the Tether is an asset while reading Ecclesiastes. I commend both to you heavy-laden, purpose seekers (who used to wear flannel and listen to grunge... or still do).

Some excerpts:

"The gift of God does not make this meaninglessness go away; the gift of God makes this vanity enjoyable.
...

Man cannot be thought of as an artesian well. Nothing inherent in him enables him to enjoy his creature comforts. He has no innate capacity to enjoy. Further, this is God's doing- God is the one who has imposed this inexorable law upon us (Eccl. 2:24-25). Who can enjoy even his food apart from God?

God always dispenses His gifts with a sovereign and majestic grace. The gifts are wisdom and knowledge and joy. Wisdom is a grace, and knowledge is also a grace, but note particularly the last of these - joy. Joy is a crowning gift of God in this meaningless world. The seraphim experience joy in the presence of God, but honestly, that is to be expected. It is not the angels He helps. We are given the privilege of experiencing joy here, in the midst of ongoing disobedient and imbecilic chaos. Joy, yes, but mirabile dictu, the joy is here. 
...

How can an unexamined piety differ from the blind gropings of a fool? What is the hallmark of wisdom in this fallen world? The answer is joy at the end of the tether."

Additional Resources
Video of Wilson explaining the origins of "Joy at the End of the Tether" on Vimeo.
"I can help daddy"
Monotony or Encore?
Reaching for Heaven?