Good Words for Today: December 14

“Jesus was the best man who ever lived. None of us has any right to experience less affliction than he did. If we experience less, it is mercy. We don’t deserve the peaceful lives we have. They are merciful gifts. For Jesus it was affliction from the beginning. His birth was scandalous (conceived before marriage). It was in an animal-feeding trough. It was threatened and hated by the political powers (Herod). He barely escaped death as a child and had to become a refugee in Egypt. And so it went until he was accused of sedition against Caesar and crucified… . So the ‘great joy’ announced by the angels is a very embattled joy. It is a joy to be fought for and a joy always under attack. Always threatened by tribulation.” John Piper

December 14, 2015