John Piper is one of the authors that I've found to be spiritually helpful mainly because of his simplistic approach.
Instead of losing himself in huge theological terms and concepts, he focuses on what rings true to him and then writes it in a way that's easily discerned, yet doesn't dodge the main issue.
And here's one:
"You don't have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world. But you do have to know the few great things that matter, perhaps just one, and then be willing to live for them and die for them. The people that make durable differences in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by one great thing. If you want your life to count, if you want the ripple effect of the pebbles you drop to become waves that reach the ends of the earth and roll on into eternity, you don't need to have a high IQ. You don't have to have good looks or riches or come from a fine family or a fine school. Instead you have to know a few great, majestic, unchanging, obvious, simple, glorious things---or one great all-embracing thing--and be set on fire by them."
Posted by Kammer at August 24, 2003 03:12 PMamen and amen
Posted by: hill at August 24, 2003 11:24 PMSounds like someone's reading "Don't Waste Your Life". Am I right? I need to get my hands on a copy of that. So if anyone reading this wants to send me a copy, feel free. I won't be offended by the title. Don't send it too soon though cuz I'm about to start reading "The Pleasures of God" by Piper. He definitely has a way of putting things simply. I was just listening to a sermon he gave on prayer and fasting the other day.
Imagine if we were people who were mastered by God. Not to say that God is not sovereignly controlling the present world. I mean if we would simply allow God to master our individual lives, we would see just how faithless and fruitless we really are. I think it was C.S Lewis who gave an illustration about a boy in a sandbox who refused to go with his parents to the beach. They tried to coax him telling him that there was far more sand to play with on the beach but he refused because he didn't want to leave his sandbox. He thought it couldn't get any better. He didn't know about the trillions upon trillions of grains of sand that he could play with.
We are far too easily satisfied with our lives. If God asks us to step out of our sandbox, we refuse because life is good right here. I've got job security, a decent car, and good friends. What if God calls me away from those things? Will I go? Better question is will I go with great joy, knowing that God is master over my life?
Piper is right. We don't have to know a lot of things to make a difference. What matter is it whether you can explain the hypo-static union of Christ or if you know what supralapsarianism means? Knowing those things doesn't make me handsome, rich or wise. It surely doesn't make me spiritual. It may mean that I know the alphabet and can use a theological dictionary but that's about it.
I think most of all, I need to be mastered by the Master. Ahhhh, gotta love Piper.
Posted by: Thomas at August 26, 2003 07:50 PMPlease note: Comments will not appear immediately. Your comment will appear upon approval by the blog's editor. We had to implement this to decrease the amount of spam that our site receives. Please forgive the inconvenience. We are looking into other, friendlier options.