Don't Waste Your Life
I just finished reading John Piper's book entitled "Don't Waste Your Life." On the back cover he wrote this synopsis of his book and I thought it worthy of sharing with you:
"John Piper writes, I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider this story from the February 1998 Readers Digest: A couple 'took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells....' Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: 'Look, Lord, See my shells." That is a tragedy.
God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of HIM in every part of our lives. Most people slip by in life without a passion for God, spending their lives on trivial diversions, living for comfort and pleasure, and perhaps trying to avoid sin. I will warn you not to get caught up in a life that counts for nothing. I challenge you to live and die boasting in the cross of Christ and making the glory of God your singular passion. If you believe that to live is Christ and to die is gain, learn to live for Christ, and don't waste your life!"
I don't know about you, but this was truly a convicting book for me. I had to ask myself if my sole purpose in life was to live for Christ and Him alone. There are many many ways to demonstrate that Christ is first in my life, and there are so many ways that the world pulls at you to stray from those priorities. What we believe and how strongly we believe it will come forth through our actions and our deeds. I pray that I might search inwardly for the true priorities of my heart, and then act to place Christ first in all of them. How about you?
Christ wants our firstfruits---not our leftovers!
Sandy
"John Piper writes, I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider this story from the February 1998 Readers Digest: A couple 'took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells....' Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: 'Look, Lord, See my shells." That is a tragedy.
God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of HIM in every part of our lives. Most people slip by in life without a passion for God, spending their lives on trivial diversions, living for comfort and pleasure, and perhaps trying to avoid sin. I will warn you not to get caught up in a life that counts for nothing. I challenge you to live and die boasting in the cross of Christ and making the glory of God your singular passion. If you believe that to live is Christ and to die is gain, learn to live for Christ, and don't waste your life!"
I don't know about you, but this was truly a convicting book for me. I had to ask myself if my sole purpose in life was to live for Christ and Him alone. There are many many ways to demonstrate that Christ is first in my life, and there are so many ways that the world pulls at you to stray from those priorities. What we believe and how strongly we believe it will come forth through our actions and our deeds. I pray that I might search inwardly for the true priorities of my heart, and then act to place Christ first in all of them. How about you?
Christ wants our firstfruits---not our leftovers!
Sandy
posted by Sandy Fewell at 5:54 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home