A quote from this:
“You don’t have to know a lot of things to make a huge
difference for the Lord in the world. But you do need to know a few things that
are great and be willing to live for them and die for them. People that make a
difference in the world are not people who have mastered a lot of things, they
are people who have been mastered by a very few things that are very, very
great. If you want your life to count you don’t have to have a high IQ and you
don’t have to have a high EQ, you don’t have to be smart, to have good looks, you don’t have to
be from a good family or from a good school, You just have to know a few basic, simple, glorious,
majestic obvious unchanging
eternal things and be gripped by them and willing to lay down your life
for them which is why anybody in this crowd can make a worldwide difference cos
it isn’t you it’s what your gripped with.
One of the really sad things about this moment right now is that there
are hundreds of you in this crowd who do not want your life to make a
difference all you want is to be liked maybe finish school, get a good job,
find a husband or a wife a nice house a nice car, long weekends, good holidays,
grow old healthy have a fun retirement die easy no hell.
And that’s all you want.
And you don’t give a rip whether your life counts on this
earth for eternity and that’s a tragedy in the making. A tragedy. “
Don't waste your life, John Piper
2 comments:
In the linked video Piper (eventually) gives an example of someone who focused on one thing: "Jesus Christ magnified among the poor and the sick" with the first three words "Jesus Christ magnified" emphasised.
The clip also displays at the start this verse from Philippians 3 verse 7: "What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things."
So one thing seems to be "Jesus Christ magnified", and another thing "Knowing Jesus my Lord".
And the third thing is ... ?
I think his point might be just about following Jesus being better (eternally so) than not following Jesus and it brings more joy than all our idolatry. We make much of a career or the performance of our children or our reputations as the source of our happiness. Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller speaks to this. Clearly, what it means to follow, know, serve the poor, give to, pray to, love like etc Jesus is the grace-filled business of sanctification. That takes some time!
This sermon given to students at the Passion Conference fills this out.
www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/getting-to-the-bottom-of-your-joy
Thank you for the thought.
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