Don’t Waste Your Life Review
Don’t Waste Your Life
Author: John Piper
Genre: Religious
First Take: Quite conservative and in some respects quite aggressive and coercive.
When did I read it? Dec 2018
Details:
My son recommended this book to me and for a time I was quite captivated by the book and read a bit of John’s writings.
There are some amazing snippets of inspiration:
It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself.
Don’t waste your life (John Piper)
He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
Don’t waste your life (John Piper)
But whatever you do, find the God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated passion of your life, and find your way to say it and live for it and die for it. And you will make a difference that lasts. You will not waste your life.
Don’t waste your life (John Piper)
And frankly, much of what John writes you would struggle to disagree with. I could not find a critical review on Google for John’s work, so it resonates with many plainly. I must be out of step a little…
Fear and Pressure
The problem for me with John’s writing is that it seems somehow fear based. Unless you devote all to Jesus, you are lost. I am not sure that it is his intent, but John leaves little room for grace.
The pressure on those who would serve the living God by the enormous passion and drive of John’s writing is immense. Of course, we are required to forsake all and follow Him, of course this is our passion, but there are realities in this life. For young guys, reading John’s work, the call to leave all and devote a life to service in the way that John seems to advocate can lead to an unbalanced view of service.
The Analogy of the Warrior
To use John Eldredge’s analogy, during the warrior phase, this is of course right and proper that a young man go forth to battle with the darkness of this world. But the propensity for those young men to burn out is immense and dangerous. This is a marathon not a sprint.
Our service must be all consuming and saturating, but just be aware that your service does not become suffocating for you and for those around you.
