More from Piper

Here is an example of what I meant about John Piper in my previous blog entry. In speaking of suffering of the 20th century from genocides to natural disasters, Piper writes,

“then add the sadness and pain and eventual death of your own family. When I think on these things, it makes me tremble at the prospect of living a trivial, self-serving, comfortable, middle-class, ordinary, untroubled American life. I can’t keep eternity out of my mind. Life is short and eternity is long. It is a long time to regret a wasted life.”

He then goes on to write about whether there would be joyous regret in heaven, and closes with this thought,

“But all of this leaves me trembling that I not throw away the one short life that I will look back on for all eternity. Just think of it. You have one life. One very short life. Then an eternity to remember. Does not the suffering in this world seem inexplicable to you? Is not this great, global (and intensely personal) suffering a call to magnify the mercy of Christ by how we respond? Is not suffering a seamless fabric, stretching into eternity for unbelievers? And therefore, are no Christians the only people who can respond with helpful relief to the totality of misery? Unbelievers may relieve some suffering in this vapor’s breath of life on earth. But beyond that they are no help.”

As Amy and I talked over it tonight we were both hit in the face with how much we have wasted our time up to this point. Piper again has hit me right where I need to be. I just look at what I have done with my time on earth so far, and how much I have wasted. I would have a lot of regretful joy in heaven if it all ended now.

The question that I put to Amy, and I need to answer for myself…How are we going to change that? How are we going to make our lives count.