![]() Our work does not replace the need for the Gospel. God’s people are to be scattered like salt and light in all legitimate vocations. God created humans in His image and gave them work to do so that they can show what God is like in their work. Both are to be used to joyfully magnify Christ. Like soldiers fighting in the war we must be willing to sacrifice for others so that they can see that Christ is great and they find pleasure in God in every aspect of their life.Ĭhapter 8: “Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5.” The call to be a Christian is not a call to leave a secular vocation to take on a church vocation. We must live a “wartime lifestyle” in which we battle between taking pleasures in what the world does, or pleasure in God. If we are glad in possessions, we are no different from the world and people will not ask us why we have hope in God. ![]() When God forgives us it is not for us to find joy in a list of benefits to ourselves rather it is so that we can experience God and find joy in Him.Ĭhapter 7: “Living to Prove He Is More Precious Than Life.” If we want people to be glad in God we must live a lifestyle that demonstrates that we have more pleasure in God than in our possessions. God forgives us so that the obstacles that prevent us from enjoying Him are removed. Nothing good or bad that takes place in our lives is able to separate us from the love of god in Christ Jesus.Ĭhapter 6: “The Goal of Life-Gladly Making Others Glad in God.” Forgiving other is necessary for us to take risks to make others glad in God. It is right to take risks for the glory of Christ. It is wrong to take risks for personal glory. We must be made free by the power of the Holy Spirit from the myths of safety and security. God cannot take a risk because His omniscience means that He has knowledge of the outcome of His plans. Here Piper explains Paul’s statement to the Philippians: “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” When we experience pain we are to treasure Christ more pain-free living.Ĭhapter 5: “Risk Is Right-Better to Lose Your Life Than to Waste It.” We live our lives with risk, because we are ignorant of the outcome of our decisions. We magnify Christ in both living and dying when we treasure our love for Christ. We magnify Christ in our sufferings because Christ suffered and died on the cross, and He call us to deny ourselves, take up our cross every day and follow Jesus. Everything that we have joy in is centered in our joy in knowing Christ, and His love demonstrated to us by His death on the cross.Ĭhapter 4: “Magnifying Christ through Pain and Death.” We magnify Christ in pain and death. In Christ we die to the old self, and we live to the new self that we have in Christ. Christ purchased us by His death on the cross. Each Christian is to have the gift of passion for life. We glorify God when we make this love known to others and have joy in what Christ has done for us.Ĭhapter 3: “Boasting Only in the Cross, The Blazing Center of the Glory of God.” Piper builds on what was said in chapter 2. God showed us love by giving His Son to die for our sins. We live to make God the joy of all that we do in every sphere of life. 29).Through Edwards Piper learns that the glory of God and man’s joy are one. He says of Edwards: “His life is inspiring because of his zeal not to waste it, and because of his passion for the supremacy of God” (p. ![]() What is Reality? Is it something that has no objective meaning? As he struggles with whether or not God is dead, Piper discovers the preaching and teaching of Jonathan Edwards. He is confronted by various philosophical teaching about the existence of God. He came to the reality that God was calling him to seminary.Ĭhapter 2: “Breakthrough-the Beauty of Christ, My Joy.” In chapter 2 Piper writes about his early days while attending seminary. He heard the preaching of Harold John Ockenga in chapel. However, he became sick with mono (mononucleosis). In college Piper intended to pursue a career as a medical doctor. The man held the preacher’s hand and cried saying, “I’ve wasted it! I’ve wasted it!” This story awakened in Piper a fear and a passion not to waste his life. One story told of an old man who finally gave his life to Christ. His father had many stories for people of all ages in the church. ![]() He served for 33 years as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and is author of more than 50 books, Including When I Don’t Desire God, This Momentary Marriage, Does God Desire All to Be Saved?, and Bloodlines.Ĭhapter 1: “My Search for a Single Passion to Live By.” In chapter 1, Piper recounts his early childhood as the son of a fiery preacher. John Piper is teacher and founder of and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. Piper, John, Don’t Waste Your Life, Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2003, pp.
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