"We should be living to prove Jesus is more precious than life." 

What we have here is a clash of the titans between living our lives in a way that shows our hope in Christ or living a life that shows our hope in ourselves. Chasing after more money, more security, more comfort, more safety, more relationships, more love etc. doesn't exactly scream "I am dependent on my Father for all things and obedient in all things".

But is any of that really, when we get down to it, related to our hope and love for Christ?

Do our everyday actions and reactions really show our neighbors, friends and family that we have something so extraordinary that they wouldn't dare miss out on?

We need to be challenged to prevent our efforts at keeping ourselves self-sufficient and independent from interfering in our faith and hope in God.

I know that I have chosen the American dream time and time again. I have no excuse. I know the Bible. I know its call for a mad, passionate life for God and nothing else. It's so easy to find comfort in busy-ness, family and taking care of others (just to name a few) while putting God on the shelf with the Bible until the next religious event. I do this more often than I would like to admit. No matter how free we are, this side of heaven we will deal with sin in our lives. Sin is an opportunity to humble ourselves, repent and receive God's amazing grace over and over because his mercy endures forever. This isn't an excuse to go off the deep end sinning. It is an quite an encouragement to know that no matter what is going on in our lives God grace is more than capable to lead and guide us to himself where there is hope and love despite your mistakes. 

What is the thing in your life that keeps you from experiencing a deeper relationship with God and expressing it to the world in some way? Entertainment, fun, attention, work, success, appreciation, busy-ness, helping, family etc. Anything that prevents us from following God from the core of our being is an idol that prevents us from following God wholeheartedly and making an impact on those around us for the kingdom of God as we should. 

Think about it: When you have a spare moment and you could spend it with God in some way (prayer, fasting, bible study, memorization, journaling, singing, quiet time--whatever suits you) but you pick up a movie, a magazine, a book, the phone, the remote, the dog, the vacuum, the car keys, a kid instead. I am a firm believer that our flesh would rather wash out dirty cloth diapers than spend time with God. It is a fight to not "waste our lives" on ourselves. We need to be aware and begin to fight harder than we do to keep food on our table, the bills paid, our friends happy, and the kids safe to know and do the will of God.

The recommendation is not to quit work and join a monastery. It is to start to purposely work to better focus on God while doing what must be done and make the necessary changes to set our priorities more toward God than toward ourselves. It will not be easy but it will be worth it and will prevent a wasted life. The wonderful benefit of allowing God to lead you and help you grow in your faith is that other will notice. I am a firm believer that people in the world don't need to see a perfect life. They need to see a real life. Real struggles, hopes and dreams but guided by a mad passionate love for Christ and they will be curious.

It's funny as I have to write on taking risks; I have been contemplating some of my own risks and their implications on myself, my family and our lives. It has not been particularly fun.

Even though taking risks is not always fun, that doesn't mean that you can run from them at all costs. 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. (p. 80) Risk is the ability for us to trust in God, no matter what the outcome, and follow him.

The problem is we don't know the outcome but we also don't know that the risk we are taking (even if it turns out well) is what God would have us do. We don't know much creating variables on all sides and from every direction. Generally, when we get far enough away we can see that something didn't turn out the way we had planned so we will deem it a mistake, mourn, pout and pay for it with guilt for a long while. We waste a lot of energy moping because we don't know what is coming in the future. It is highly possible that that wretched risk we took that turned out poorly in our opinion might just have saved us from something much worse or opened a door to something we never would have seen before. We don't know so much! 

Risk is possible for us because we do not know all the many variables involved past, present and future. On the other hand, God can take no risks...His omniscience rules out the very possibility of taking risks. (p. 80) God's omniscience (the ability to know everything) is part of our Christian doctrine. More liberal Christians would say God can only know what can be known. It's kind of funny-if you think about it. Because we can't phathom things, we must limit God to make him more understandable to our small minds and logic systems. God knows everything! He knew it before it happened in time. If you like LOST, you may better appreciate God's omniscience. He is not subject to time as we are--he's outside of it altogether. Chew on that for awhile--it's fun.

We are obviously not omniscient (to whatever level you can agree God is). We aren't even close. Piper references, James 4:13-15, "We are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." (p. 80) I think if we had that perspective on our life we would look differently at the options and trials that we have in any given day. In some ways we are so much less than we think we are but in others, we are holy children of God who can do all things through Christ who strengthens us and make a significant impact on those around us. Phil 4:12-13. With that tension of being mortal and yet have immortal souls, one of Pipers aims in this book is to explode the myth of safety and to somehow deliver you from the enchantment of security. Because it's a mirage. It doesn't exist. Every direction you turn there are unknowns and things beyond your control. (p. 81) 

Piper uses examples from the Bible to show how good people sometimes make dangerous decisions for the greater good. Joab while trapped in a tenuous situation makes a difficult decision to fight. Esther decides to stick her neck out for her people. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego take on the fiery furnace rather than bow to anyone/thing other than God. The brave and relentless apostle Paul who risked his life time and time again and eventually lost it to share his passion for Jesus with us. Finally sharing Jesus's terrifying words, "if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." John 15:20 (p. 81-86) All of these people took tremendous risks for themselves and others, with little hope that they would survive or it would even remotely turn out alright.

Christians throughout history and the present day risk their lives to share the love of Christ with their friends and enemies a like. This generally turns out horribly for some of us on this earth but that isn't what matters to those who risk martyrdom. Somehow these sacrifices, make a tremendous impact on lives of those around us. Outsiders see something incredible about our God when we risk our lives for him and they become willing to change their ways. The irony of how torture and terror to Christ himself and those of us who follow him leads people to follow him still boggles my mind. "The mysteries of godliness are great!" 1 Tim 3:16

Joshua, an Old Testament hero, was not afraid to enter the promised land after wandering the dessert for 40 years because he new God promised the land to them. The risk seemed obvious and worthwhile to him because he knew God's word to the people. He trusted God more than he feared man. This is a godly outlook on life. I am afraid my own personal outlook is not usually so daring and hopeful.

Over and over, you see people taking risks for God in the Bible. It's pretty challenging because our American drug of choice is "safety." With the god of "fun," coming in a close second.  Unfortunatey, our desire for safety and our personal well-being keeps us from even seeing the risks we could take to prevent wasting our lives which causes most of us to waste our lives. 

We listen to "preachers" on TV that tell us if we follow their Jesus all will be well, life will start to look better and we should have a Lexus. Unfortunately, that doesn't generally happen. God works so many miracles in our lives that I am losing count of the ones that I know about, much less, all the ones that he's done that I am unaware have happened. But that doesn't mean, that things will be easy, that I won't struggle, that I won't have to give up myself for him in different passive and active ways every day of my life. Being a christian is frequently painful, more often than I like to admit very painful and sometimes literally painful. 

That said if we go to the other extreme of not taking risks; which is, taking risks for our own selfish reasons, we are in error as well. One of the things that is so hard about Christianity is that you can not get comfortable in the extremes. You must be alert and ever watching God's work in your life or you risk creating your own faith/religion that suits you but is not with God. 

We need to learn hear and see God and follow his guidance in our life and when he calls for risk be willing to take it when necessary but not take frivolous risks.  This balance is a hard one. No one has or ever will walk that balance perfectly--other than Jesus. We can only learn and grow from our mistakes and do better next time.

Some things to think about:

If you are a risk taker by nature, take some time to evaluate whether those risks were for you or God? How did they turn out? When you tell people of these stories do you exalt yourself while telling of the wonders God has done? How did your friends and family view God because of that risk you took? What have you learned? How could you have handled them differently? 

If you are not a risk taker, what is it that holds you back? Have the things holding you back become idols in your life preventing you from following God wholeheartedly? Are you too concerned about your safety? Are you too concerned about what people will think? What do you wish you would have done that you didn't?

No matter which type you are, (you're probably both at different times) take some time to confess it to God and ask him to show you a place where he would like you to grow and start taking some healthy for your soul risks for God and/or stop taking risks for yourself.

Can life really have that much "singleness" of purpose? (p. 43) The bible gives us the Apostle Paul as our example when he said, "I decided to know nothing amoung you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2) However, don't be confused Paul was not a monk or a recluse. He did and knew much in the world but all of it he did with the focus and passion of Jesus at the core of his being. With that single focus, he was able to lead and teach the early church in the hope of Jesus.

Worldly counsel would tell you that your life is full and good if you are well liked, have lots of friends, a great job and a home full of pottery barn furniture. Things, accomplishments, contributions, actions dictate your status in the worldly view of success. On the contrary Piper tells a story of a non-wasted life, in which, two 80 year old women die when their car goes off a cliff in Cameroon. They had been reaching people for Christ and healing them with their medical training. These were rich lives, full of passion and determination to live for Christ in dangerous and difficult circumstances even into old age. (p. 45) He contrasts it with a reader's digest version of success where a couple retire to a cruise boat to play softball and collect shells. Piper is shocked and horrified imagining them standing in heaven with the fruits of their life "Look, Lord, see my shells." (p. 46) He begs that you expect more from your life. "Desire that your life count for something great! Long for your life to have eternal significance. Want this! Don't coast through life without a passion." (p. 46)

Our passion should not be our comfort or worldly success. "We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ." (p. 47) Instead we trade this amazing passion for busy-ness, accomplishments and false hopes. "We simply take life and breath and health and friends and everything for granted. We think it is ours by right. But the fact is that it is not ours by right. We are doubly undeserving of it." (p. 51) "I deserve nothing but condemnation because of my sin, but instead get life and breath in this age, and everlasting joy in the age to come, because Christ died for me, then everything good--and everything bad that God turns for good--must be the reward of his suffering (not my merit). (p. 52)

We work hard to get people to see our "specialness" and approve of us. But we do this because we feel the distance between us and God because of our sin. We try to fill the gap with whatever will keep our minds off of the problem we feel inside. This problem is what Piper addresses because we can not really experience the freedom in Christ until "We learn to boast in the cross and exult in the cross when we are on the cross. And until our selves are crucified there, our boast will be in ourselves." (p. 55) Losing weight, getting a new house, donating money, going to church are all nonsense if Christ is not in his right place in our lives and we are not in our right place in relation to him. In Galations 2:19-20 it says: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." "God links you to his Son by faith. And when he does, there is a union with the Son of God so that his death becomes your death and his life becomes your life." (p. 56)

What does this mean for you? It means that you are made new in Christ. "The old self that loves to boast and exult and rejoice in other things died. By faith we are united to Christ. His death becomes the death of our self-exalting life. We are raised with him to newness of life. What lives is a new creature whose single passion is to exalt Christ on the cross." (p. 56-57) This is why we do baptisms. When you are submerged under the water it is a symbolic death and when you are brought out it is into your new life with Christ as your center. "The old "you" is dead. A new "you" is alive." (p. 57)

In your new life with Christ you are set free from the old ways of thinking, the hurts and wounds of your past, all of that is replaced with Jesus as your hope. He is your saviour and advocate. The one who loves you no matter what and helps you through all things. "The world is no longer your treasure. It's not the source of your life or your satisfaction or your joy. Christ is." (p. 57) 

Because he is your passion and hope, you are free to enjoy life as he would have you and it will be a tribute to his sacrifice and your love for him. "Therefore every enjoyment in this life and the next that is not idolatry is a tribute to the infinite value of the cross of Christ--the burning center of the glory of God. And thus a cross-centered, cross exalting, cross saturated life is a God-glorifying life--the only God-glorifying life. All others are wasted." (p. 59)

I hope someone has impacted you for the better a long the way. John Piper being an academic individual was struggling with the philosophical issues of the human race and how we deal with God. It bothered him to the depth of his being that people were rationalizing God away. People had/have decided that they "don't find meaning, they create it." There isn't real truth there is only what I believe and you believe. No one is right. No one is wrong. Ugh! How do you hold on to the hope that is Jesus Christ when nothing matters but what you or I can see. 

Thankfully, there were several men in Piper's life that were able to point him in the direction of real meaning; E. D. Hirsch, Daniel Fuller and Jonathon Edwards. Piper's was trying to figure out how not to get to the end of his life and look back thinking that he had completed wasted it. Luckily, these men gave Piper a firm foundation which kind of turned on a new light in his mind to see things more brightly and accurately. 

It isn't necessary for you to understand the philosophical issues that Piper was struggling with honestly. If that is bothering you, move on for now. What is most important is his conclusion with the help of Jonathon Edwards. "Delighting in God was not a mere preference or option in life; it is our joyful duty and should be the single passion of our lives." That is a big thought which you could really chew on for the rest of your life.

Delighting in God, I can handle an hour a week at church but the single passion of my life? As I write, I can't help but go through the day and think about how often I was not delighting in God. It's pretty humbling. I know there were instances where I was aware of God's work in my life but how often did I really relish in the fact that I have been adopted into a royal family. I am a child of God. 

How much stress and trauma would we avoid if we spent more time relishing in the goodness of God? Instead of running around grumbling and complaining, what would happen if we walked around full of the knowledge that God has the worst of our circumstances under his control and worked out for our eternal good? What if we stopped worrying about who likes us and relished in the fact that we have been accepted just as we are into the family of God himself. 

I challenge you to take this week and start retraining your brain. Find a bible verse, aspect of God or worship song that resonates with you and whenever you start to feel less than joyful think on it. Take another moment and pray for that situation/person and ask God to help you see His purpose in it. If you keep up this quick and simple practice, you will see a remarkable difference in how you see and interact with the world around you which will help you along the path to a non-wasted life.

In Piper's search as a young man for the way to live an un-wasted life, he bumped into a serious problem. Educators were deciding that meaning was defined by the person's impression while reading the text; not the text's original intended meaning. This is still a very common problem not just in academia but in the church as well.  

When it comes to the Bible, misinterpretation is a big problem which can lead most certainly to a wasted life. There comes a time when we need to educate ourselves in order to figure out where we are really going. Piper reset his thinking and path by grounding himself in C.S. Lewis' amazing theological and creative mind. Now we attempt the same by reading Piper. 

In my life, I have seen so many people allow their faulty theology destroy their faith, marriages/families and witness to other people. It is a dangerous thing to dabble in the Bible. God doesn't like it. It doesn't help us share a proper picture of God with the world. It will most definitely allow your mind to remain corrupted and prevent you from living the life God wants for you--or worse, it may completely separate you from Him forever. This is not something to play around with or be determined unnecessary because it is too hard or time consuming.

Some things to think about:

If any of these questions, made you cringe, get angry, feel inadequate, or so on; please pray through them and see where God may be trying to lead you and help you grow. Avoiding the hard stuff inside, only makes it more visible on the outside.

This blog is designed to help you work through the book Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. If nothing else, I want to encourage you to dig deep and keep reading. I remember when Tim sat me down with Grudem's Systematic (Seminary Theology Text). At that point in my life, the only thing that I had read was The Stand by Stephen King. It was a great book. King really made me think but on a totally different level.

I only share this because anyone can learn to read books that have big words in them. You may need a dictionary. You may need to read in small chunks--over and over. You'll have tons of questions. Which is great. You don't have to know everything and you don't have to come out of this as knowledgeable as Piper. The goal is to let the content impact your life in a meaningful way.

You should not come away feeling like this book is too much for you. If that is how you feel, know that your emotions are lazy and you need to train them to obey you. This is kind of like following that New Year's resolution to work out. Can you work out, yes! Can you make yourself work out, maybe not. It is a daily choice to push yourself farther than you think you can go to get somewhere you can't imagine.

In order to allow a book to help you get through unknown territory, you are going to need some space. You will not want to start reading with the baby crying, the TV on and while texting your friend about their dating issues. Find a place where you can concentrate. Make sure to take care of any possible distractions before you start to read. Eat, drink, take a nap, clean the garage, make the grocery list. Whatever it is, do that first.

Most importantly, confess your feelings of inadequacy and fear to God. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in the renewing of your mind. Trust that He will. 

I am starting out a little behind our groups and I will do my best to get ahead of everyone. In the meantime, check back regularly because I will be adding posts as soon as I get them done until we are all on track. If a question comes up in a group, please let me know and maybe we can have it answered for another group.