Don’t Waste It!
Back in February, a dear friend of ours shared an article she’d recently read by John Piper. I’ve read it several times and thought it through and thought at long last I’d share it here. Five years ago, this friend (wife and mother of five, the youngest of whom was a year old at the time and is a good friend of Matthew’s) was diagnosed with breast cancer and God has worked immeasurably in her life, and in others through her, as a result. The article is entitled “Don’t Waste Your Cancer” (click to read it). As she put it, this article is applicable to whatever trials we’re facing or struggles we have in our lives; Don’t Waste Your . . . Burned dinner(s). Mistakes. Allergies. Fatigue. Rebellious child(ren). Heart disease. Mental illness. Marital difficulties. Anger. Financial concerns. Asthma. Migraines. Infertility. “Another” child. Loss of a loved one. (You get the idea.) Perhaps the title could read “Don’t Waste This Opportunity” or even “Don’t Waste Your Life”. Point is, God is at work in our world. Are we drawing nearer to Him in what He’s doing in our own sphere, or are we pushing Him away, or even perhaps ignoring Him? He is sovereign. I firmly believe that what happens to us and around us is of Him. Let’s let it draw us to Him; let’s trust Him with it all; let’s go to Him with our struggles, our outright failures, and our “issues”. When trials come, when difficulties arise, when recurring issues rear their ugly heads again, He is not punishing us but reminding us that He is exactly what we need and He is all we need. He uses them to refine those He loves and make them pure. He uses them to call those who don’t know Him to come to Him and get to know Him. He uses all our circumstances to woo us to Himself, to true life which is found only in Him. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” John 3:36 . We choose life. Now, let’s not waste it.
April 4th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
John Piper does in fact have a book called “Don’t Waste Your Life”. We own a copy and recommend it, except we never actually finished it! No good excuse for us since it’s relatively short (and inexpensive!). You can find it at the Desiringgod.org website.
April 10th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
This article was very well done. Also the book Cheryl mentioned is very good. We used this book for the Youth Retreat last summer. The younger kids (6th-9th grades) had a hard time with they way it was written… but beside that great!