Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper

Don't Waste Your Life is something that I would suggest all Christians should read. It will certainly act as a compass that points to where we should look and what we should look at.

It addresses the most common sickness known to the common man as well as Christians, complacency. We tend to see the cross of Christ, learn about salvation and sit back, relax, and be satisfied that we won't suffer from guilt of sin and the fires of hell. This book should challenge you to look beyond that.

So if you want to challenge yourself to look beyond mediocrity and know what we should be gunning for, go pick this book up. Read it, understand it, and enjoy it! Hopefully you'll get to understand that it's not us that we should be making much of, but Him who is worthy of all praise. Let's all strive to understand and be satisfied by that fact. So that in the end, we'll look back and say "yes, we didn't waste our life".

God loves us by liberating us from the bondage of self so that we can enjoy knowing and admiring him forever. - John Piper

A Sweet & Bitter Providence by John Piper

If there's one word that I can describe the words in the Bible, that would be inexhaustible. I've read the book of Ruth twice before I've gotten across this book and I would say, I never got to see the book of Ruth as John Piper saw it and praise God he wrote a book about it.

The first two tries in reading the Book of Ruth, I'd always tell myself to bathe in the sovereignty of God that was displayed in that book. You'll always notice the pain that Naomi have experienced in the 1st chapter and the grace and the glorious wisdom of God exercised in the last chapter, but never did I see the details such as racial significance and the obedience and purity that Ruth and Boaz demonstrated.

This book is really timing for me in the season I am in, as it challenges me to be patient and trust in God even in pain, to take risks in order to work towards the desires that is ever present in me, and to reach a level of maturity in my faith in God.

The book consists of 4 chapters bringing us along the journey that Naomi and Ruth encountered and how they acted and trusted on God above all things. And this is something that I would suggest for those who are eager about something yet discouraged that things are not working out the way they're hoping it to be and for those who are currently in pain hoping for a better day. I got to read this one over a couple of weeks and I'm sure that there are those who read more than I do would get to finish this faster and would enjoy it as I had.

My prayer and hope is that this short post would display the enthusiasm and the gratefulness that I have for John Piper in unpacking the book of Ruth in such a light manner, lighter than how he writes, to help me understand pain and love God more even in dark times.

A Sweet & Bitter Providence: Sex, Race, and the Sovereignty of God, by John Piper