A Reviving Book Review - Part 2
October 2, 2007 10:48 AM
Don’t Waste Your Life
by John Piper
A book review by Pastor Joe Roof – Part 2
When it comes to glorifying God, loosing our lives for His sake is better than wasting our lives in some selfish pursuit. On pages 79 and 80, Piper wrote, “Will a wise and loving person, then, ever take a risk? Is it wise to expose yourself to loss? Is it loving to endanger others? Is loosing life the same as wasting it? It depends. Of course you can throw away your life away in a hundred sinful ways and die as a result. In that case, losing life and wasting it would be the same. But loosing life is not always the same as wasting it. What if the circumstances are such that not taking a risk will result in loss or injury? It may not be wise to play it safe. And what if a successful risk would bring great benefit to many people, and its failure would bring harm only to yourself? It may not be loving to choose comfort or security when something great may be achieved for the cause of Christ and for the good of others.” Many believers are deluded by the “myth of safety” and forget that the safest place to be is in the will of God (see p. 81). Joab made a decision to do something right and left the outcome up to God no matter the results (2 Samuel 10). Esther took a great risk to save her people that could have resulted in her death and left the outcome up to God with those famous words “If I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego courageously refused to bow to the image of Nebuchadnezzar out of loyalty to God, no matter the cost in Daniel 3:16-18. Paul took many risks for the glory of God in passages like Acts 20:23, and 21:14. 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 tells of the high price Paul paid to follow the Lord. Some hills are worth the risk to climb and are worth dying on. Some hills are not. Wisdom to rightfully discern a God-glorify path in life is a great need of the hour. On page 98, Piper closes a chapter with this challenge – “Is it right to serve the people of God and say, ‘If I perish, I perish!’” Is it right to stand before the fiery furnace of affliction and refuse to bow down to the gods of this world. This is the road that leads to fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. At the end of the other road-secure and risk-free-we will put our face in our hands and say, ‘I’ve wasted it.’”
“Gladly Making Others Glad in God” is the goal of the life of the one who wishes to bring glory to God. Piper says that, “It is impossible to risk your life to make others glad in God if you are an unforgiving person. If you are wired to see other people’s faults and failures and offenses, and treat them roughly, you will not take risks for their joy. This wiring-and it is universal in all human beings-must be dismantled. We will not gladly risk to make people glad in God if we hate them, or hold grudges against them, or are repelled by their faults and foibles. We must become forgiving people (p.99).
Ephesians 4:32 says, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
If our goal is to bring glory to God then we will use our money and resources to show that Jesus is more precious than life. “Life choices rooted in the assurance that magnifying Christ through generosity and mercy is more satisfying than selfishness (p.107) is a great challenge. Right after this, Piper wrote, “If we walk away from risk to keep ourselves safe and solvent, we will waste our lives.” Passages like Mark 10:21, Luke 6:20,24, Luke 14:33, Luke 18:25, Luke 12:15, Matthew 6:33, Luke 12:33, Luke 19:8-9, Matthew 13:44, Luke 21:2-3, Luke 12:20-21, and Luke 9:58-59 teach that the “credibility of Christ hangs on how we use our money.” We should be using “money to show that God, not possessions, is our treasure. One of the problems is that many Christians are in a peacetime mindset instead of a wartime mindset. There was a time in our nation’s history where the focus of people was to sacrifice important things for a more important cause – our soldiers defeating a dangerous scourge on our world. During that time of war, many on and off the battlefields joyfully endured hardships to achieve the goal. Today, there are needs to spread the Gospel in places where billions of people have not heard. There are opportunities to show gospel-centered acts of mercy at great cost that will reveal the glory of God to people in need. “Oh that young and old would turn off the television, take a long walk, and dream about feats of courage for the cause ten thousand times more important than American democracy- as precious as that is. If we would dream and if we would pray, would not God answer? Would he withhold from us a life of joyful love and mercy and sacrifice that magnifies Christ and makes people glad in God? I plead with you, as I pray for myself, set your face like flint to join Jesus on the Calvary road. “Let us go to him outside the camp, and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:13-14). When they see our sacrificial love – radiant with joy – will they not say, ‘Christ is great’” (p. 129).
The workplace is a mission field where a believer can glorify God by “making much of Christ.” Piper said, you do not waste your life by where you work but how and why (p.132). By fellowshipping with God, doing your best for God, living and sharing truth about God, and using your income for God, you testify for God!
This generation needs to be challenged to show the “majesty of Christ in missions of mercy.” “The single-passion – to see that Christ be glorified as perishing people become eternally satisfied in him-drives the great global enterprise we call world missions” (p. 159). God will bring dissatisfaction to a person’s life to call them to serve Him full-time in some needy place in the world. The church needs to be sending out people to serve the Lord.
Pick up Don’t Waste Your Life at christianbook.com for $10.99 plus shipping for a challenging and life-changing read!