Don't Waste Your Life (John Piper)

What better way to start the new year than by reminding yourself of what's really important?  If you have any resolutions, they're probably like mine: eat better, lose weight, buy more legos, etc. . . . but is that really what life is all about?  In Don't Waste Your Life, John Piper, a popular reformed pastor, sets the record straight.

In this book, Piper looks at his own search for an overarching passion in life.  He concludes that

God created me-and you- to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion- namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life.

How?  "He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him."

So, according to Piper, our ultimate purpose is "enjoying and displaying his [God's] greatness," and our goal in life should be "gladly making others glad in God."  So "[t]hat is the single, all-embracing, all-transforming reason for being: a passion to enjoy and display God’s supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples."

The author proceeds to discuss the beauty of Christ, the importance of boasting only in the cross, magnifying Christ through pain and death, taking appropriate risks (better to lose your life than waste it), how to live to prove God's more precious than life, making much of God at work, and the importance of missions.

In addition to the points I mention above, I also enjoyed his discussion on self and the need to die to it:

When man and woman chose to be self-reliant and rejected God’s fatherly guidance and provision, God subjected them to the very thing they chose: self-reliance.

We, as humans, are focused on ourselves way too much- and even some pastors buy into it and twist the Gospel to be one of personal benefit only.  Piper reminds us that:

God loves us by liberating us from the bondage of self so that we can enjoy knowing and admiring him forever.

And so

The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness.

Overall, Piper makes a lot of really good, hard-hitting, humbling points in this book.  He quotes Scripture liberally throughout, backing up his claims with sound evidence. That's good.  It's not perfect, though- he can get repetitive.  Saying the same thing several different ways has its benefits- repetition is the key to learning, and perhaps re-phrasing things helps reach audiences of different theological backgrounds and levels- but it did seem excessive in places.  Also, in latter chapters (on work and missions), he seems to lose focus a bit, still bringing up good points, but wandering at times, to the point where parts felt like he was ranting. 

I'll end with one final quote from the book, on secular work- one I need to remember at all times:

We make much of God in our secular work is by having such high standards of excellence and such integrity and such  manifest goodwill that we put no obstacles in the way of the Gospel but rather call attention to the all-satisfying beauty of Christ.

Rating: A-