What is our purpose in life? There are few questions that keep people awake as much as this. We wake up, we work, we enjoy what time we have left afterwards, then we prepare to do it again tomorrow. It can all feel so meaningless. Yet for the Christian, we are meant for a life so much greater than our mere survival and personal enjoyment.
“Don’t Waste Your Life” (affiliate link) is likely John Piper’s most well-known work, and for good reason! The very core of the book flies in the face of the American dream, making us question whether a big house, fancy car, and an easy retirement are really all we can aspire to. The Christian life and the world are often at odds with one another, never more so than defining our very purpose in life.
We have one life to live with a finite, unknown number of days to make the most of it. My own testimony is one of spending a decade doing nothing for Christ. Those are 10 years of spiritual growth, encouragement to other believers, and closeness with my savior that I’ve wasted. I know that so many Christians share my story, yet do our stories have in common that causes such stagnation?
Purpose. More specifically, a lack of it. So many of us spend our lives completely untethered to any goal, living our lives until we figure something out. We move from moment to moment, waiting for someone to come along and tell us “Here, this will make you happy!” Yet we look for our salvation from drudgery, listlessness, and sorrow in the pursuit of a life we were never meant to live (Ephesians 4:14).
We can’t waste our life and John Piper does a wonderful job showing us why God doesn’t want us to. We are meant to serve Him, with the means of doing so found in the Bible. A life of hope, purpose, and completeness can only be found by living the life we were meant to live. Rather than asking God to bring us satisfaction through money, health, or relationships, He is meant to be our satisfaction!
When God is our satisfaction, a 9-5 job has meaning beyond paying bills. Raising children isn’t something we just try to survive. Even sickness and death have a greater purpose beyond our pain.
There’s no denying that Piper’s central teaching of “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him” has had one of the most profound influences on my Christian life that a single man can offer. Piper encourages Christians to take the risk and truly live out their Christian calling. It’s terrifying, but God gives us strength in our weakness.
But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me. 1Therefore I am content with weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (1 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Purchase “Don’t Waste Your Life” through the link below (a small portion of sales from this link will go towards Onward in the Faith). If you prefer digital reading, John Piper has made this and many other books free through his website.
