This is a prayer from John Piper’s book Seeing and Savouring Jesus Christ (which I’ve finally finished after trying to read a chapter of it on Sundays to prepare my mind for church). The prayer ends the chapter called ‘The appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour’ and I think it speaks for itself.
Forgive us, Father, for our indifference to the coming of your Son. We have not kept our lamps of expectation burning or bought the oil of eagerness in hope for the Bridegroom to return. We have bought a field and gone to look at it. We have bought oxen and spent time ooing and aahing over their height and weight. We have married a wife and desired her more than the coming of your Son. O Lord, forgive us. We are sorry for the dishonour that our wandering affections show to you and your servant, Jesus.
But Lord, we are eager to change. And we come to you for help. Incline our hearts to Christ. Open our eyes to the glory of Christ. Make the appearing of our great God and Saviour a ‘blessed hope’ in our hearts – a happy hope, a satisfying hope. Break our addiction to this world. Cause us to set our minds on things that are above where Christ is seated at your right hand. Work in us the command of Peter to ‘hope fully in the grace of God that is coming at the revelation of Jesus Christ’. Free us from the anxieties that come from too much dependence on earthly circumstances. Form us into a radical band of risk-takers in the cause of love because we know that this mortal flesh will put on immortality and this body of lowliness will be transformed into a body like Christ’s glorious body.
We love you, Father. We love your Son’s appearing. Grant us to live out this hope in the freedom of self-sacrifice to the glory of your great grace. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Piper’s prayers are soul-nourishing.
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