don't waste your life

With much thanks to christianaudio.com giving it away for free, I have been listening to the book "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper on my way to and from work for the past couple days. If you have read this book before, I don't have to tell you that it's a good one to read. If you haven't read it, I would recommend it based on what I have heard so far. There are so many good thoughts in this book that there is now way I could share them all on here. However, there are a couple of thoughts from the first four chapters that stick out in my mind right now that I would like to share. This is kind of a long one, so be prepared.

1. Piper starts out the book talking about a picture that was hung in his parent's house with this saying on it: "Only one life, twill soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last." This is what the main idea of the book is, as Piper talks about the fact that anything we do that does not glorify God is wasted. At this point, barely into the first chapter, I've already realized that I do not want any more of my life to be wasted on things that will not last past this life.

2. After talking about what a wasted life is, he talks about what it means to not waste your life. The opposite of wasting your life on things that do not bring glory to God is to magnify Him in everything that you do. Paul says in Galatians 6:14 that he does not want to glory in anything except the cross of Christ. Piper then makes the point that everything good and everything bad that is eventually worked out for our good (Romans 8:28), can be directed back to Christ's suffering on the cross. All of the good things that happen are because of the mercy that Christ shows believers that was ultimately displayed by His love for us on the cross and His desire to give us what we need despite the fact that we are wretched sinners who deserve nothing. All of the bad things can also point back to the cross because we are called to suffer as Christ suffered for us (Matthew 10:37-39, 16:24).

3. When it comes to magnifying Christ, Piper gave a really good illustration. He said that we can magnify Christ like a microscope or a telescope. Both of these things magnify whatever you are looking at through them, but they do it in two different ways. The microscope takes something that is small and makes it look huge, and thus it is magnified. The telescope, on the other hand, looks at something that is already beyond our comprehension and allows us to see it for what it truly is. This is the way that we should view God.

The overall gist of what I've gotten out of this book so far is that everything that happens in my life should be a reflection of Christ. I can glorify Him in every situation that I encounter, and if I do not do this, then I am wasting my life. Glorifying God with everything that I have in every situation allows me to be an example to those who do not have a relationship with Him, and an encouragement to those who do. When I am completely satisfied in Christ, He is most glorified through my life.

PS- If you read this and the book interests you, I do have three copies of the audiobook available to send to other people, so let me know!