"Sometimes people who are saturated with the centrality of man--whether their own selves (which Ellis calls 'me-ism') or their own kind (ethnocentrism)--do not feel that God's God-centeredness is a loving thing. How can God be loving if he does everything to display his own glory?
Well, what I have come to see is that God's commitment to the exaltation of his own glory is the essence of his love. Here is one place to see it--John 11:1-6:
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who
anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the
sisters sent to him, saying, 'Lord, he whom you love is ill.' But when Jesus heard this he said,'This illness
does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.'
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus . So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed
two days longer in the place where he was.
Notice three amazing things:
1) Jesus chose to let Lazarus die. Verse 6: 'When he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer
in the place where he was.' There was no hurry. His intention was not to spare the family grief but to
raise Lazarus from the dead.
2) He was motivated by a passion for the glory of God displayed in his own glorious power. Verse 4:
'This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified
through it.'
3) Nevertheless, both the decision to let Lazarus die and the motivation to magnify God were expressions
of love for Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Verse 5: 'Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and
Lazarus...so...he stayed...where he was.'
Oh, how many people today--even Christians--would murmur at Jesus for callously letting Lazarus die and putting him and Mary and Martha and others through the pain and misery of those days. And if they saw that this was motivated by Jesus's desire to magnify the glory of God, many would call this harsh or unloving. What this shows is how far above the glory of God most people value pain-free lives. For most people, love is whatever puts human value and human well-being at the center. So Jesus's behavior is unintelligible to them.
But let us not tell Jesus what love is. Let us not instruct him how he should love us and make us central. Let us learn from Jesus what love is and what our true well-being is. Love is doing whatever you need to do to help people see and savor the glory of God forever and ever. Love keeps God central. Because the soul was made for God." pgs 250-251
-John Piper
from: http://www.amazon.com/Bloodlines-Cross-Christian-John-Piper/dp/1433528525/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363889213&sr=1-1&keywords=bloodlines+john+piper
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