The Glory of God & True Contrition

The other night I was reading a sermon by Jonathan Edwards called "Praise, One of the Chief Employments of Heaven." As Edwards spoke about the "transcendent glory and divine excellency of God," I had a revelation of how right John Piper is when he says that true remorse for sin only comes from beholding the glory of God. Here are some thoughts I wrote down at the time:

Man can be made to see that his actions are evil in relation to other men, but this pales in comparison with the profound sense of shame and humiliation he will feel when he sees the infinitely bright and glorious excellencies of Christ and realizes what he has traded them for — the complete and total opposite. This is why evil men will hide their faces in shame when the glory of God is displayed to them at the Judgment. Imagine people seeing all of the infinite perfections of God, his infinitely glorious and sweet love and mercies, and realizing that instead of pursuing and embracing Him, they sought satisfaction in Jerry Springer and South Park. As Paul Washer says, "They will melt like wax figurines in front of a blazing furnace." Imagine how the man will feel who, while beholding the supreme beauty of Christ, realizes that he has spent his entire life excelling in things that God utterly abhors and leading others to do the same. Hugh Hefner's soul will implode into a million pieces when he stands before the glorious throne of the Almighty and fixes his eyes on the breathtaking beauty of Jesus Christ!