Piper McNuggets

When I was in college, Mr. Eubie, perhaps my favorite Sunday school teacher of all time, taught a series on “Desiring God,” a John Piper text. The lessons were wonderful and made me go on to seek out Piper sermons, quotes, etc., but I’d never gotten around to actually reading the book for myself. Last fall the young singles pastor at my church gifted me 5 books, 4 of which were Piper and one of which was Desiring God. I shelved it carefully on my bookshelf under “P” on the “Christian” shelf (I’m a tad neurotic with my books) but never cracked it. I decided that my time at the ranch was going to be when I got around to reading it. I’m wading through it at the moment and loving it, although it takes a while to actually grasp what he’s talking about (the man was DEEP!) and thought that I’d leave you with some quotes to ponder. Piper says that each day we should find a “nugget” to meditate on throughout the day. Perhaps you’ll find one in one of these quotes.

*Life is hard and God is good.
*When delighting in God is the work of out lives, there will be an inner strength for ministries of love to the very end.
*Not only does the pursuit of joy in God give strength to endure; it is the key to breaking the power of sin on our way to heaven. “The joy of the Lord will arm us against the assaults of our spiritual enemies and put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.”
*We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
*…..all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise. I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation
*Not to enjoy God is to dishonor Him. To say to Him that something else satisfies you more is the opposite of worship. It is sacrilege.
*What does it mean to glorify God? It does not mean to make Him more glorious. It means to acknowledge His glory, to value it above all things, and to make it known. It implies heartfelt gratitude: “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me” (Psalm 50:23).
*Deep within us we all know that it is our duty to glorify our Maker by thanking Him for all we have, trusting Him for all we need, and obeying all His revealed will.
*We have exchanged and dishonored His glory again and again. We have trusted ourselves. We have taken credit for His gifts. We have turned away from the path of His commandments because we thought we knew better.

Whew. That’s all the nuggets I have for now. More later, no doubt.