Don't Waste Your Life

So I was doing some reading and I found an address to a graduating class of a program called, INSIGHT. It's a 1 year college program offered at Bethleham Baptist Church in Minnesota. The address is by Dr. John Piper and the following is a summary of the entire speech given to inspire these students headed into college:

From the intro:
I don’t feel excited when I hear questions like: “You want to be a firefighter? Why are you in college?” “You want to be a homemaker? Why are you in college?”

We’re in school to see a whole panorama of life that comes out in all manifestations of disciplines in the hope that all these beams of light refracted in human minds will lead us to the source of all things so that we know him better.

Every time I send Talitha off to school—she’s in the 5th grade—I try to remember to connect for her what she’s about to do today with Jesus. And not in a superficial way like, if you know this fact it might be useful in witnessing, though that’s true and wonderful. But rather, if you study math, you’re going to know God better. I promise you. As you advance through the complexities of math—from 5th grade to Calculus—you will find out things about the nature of the mind of God that you would not get any other way. It’s the same thing with the way language works. Same thing with processes in history. Same thing in politics and social studies. And art.

So thank you so much for believing that and not being too worried about what you’re going to do when you grow up. You know, I went 4 years to Wheaton, 3 years to Fuller, 3 years to graduate school and at age 28 did not know what I wanted to do when I grew up.

I just knew a few central realities: I love the Bible. I want to use it to help other people obey it for Jesus’ sake.
That leaves open a lot of possibilities!

So you know what I did? I took the first job that was offered to me. Then I took the second job that was offered to me and I’ve been here ever since.

So I’m here to try to share a little wisdom. And I could care less—as long as it’s not sin—what vocation you use this wisdom in.

Mistake #1: Big is better than small.
God uses little David-like people to accomplish huge Goliath-like things because he is jealous to get the credit.
Don’t worry about big. Worry about faithful.

Mistake #2: New is better than old.
Read old books. You need the wisdom of the ages to combat the folly of the present.
When you read books from today, don’t read first and mainly books by emergent writers. Read books first and mainly by old men—J.I. Packer, R.C. Sproul—men with long battled years who have learned not only from the Bible and from books, but from life.

In school, it doesn’t matter what you major in. Just find the wisest teachers and take everything from them.

When great changes happen, it's not from new ideas. The reformation was a great leap forward precisely by going backward.

Mistake #3: Having is better than being.
There’s no correlation between the fullness of life and the muchness of having.
Don’t reduce your education to acquiring marketable skills. Study to become and behold, not to be rich.

Mistake #4: Visible is better than invisible.
The most important things are not visible. God is invisible and he is the greatest reality of all. If you structure your life around sight, it will be out of touch with reality.
Do not be much interested in outward appearance. Be interested in inner realities.

From the conclusion:
If God is God—and he is—small with him is better than big with anybody. His old things are better than anybody’s new things. Being his child is better than having the world. And better to be blind with the invisible God than to see everything without him.



I thought these were pretty profound statements I earnestly wish I had heard them prior to entering college. Then again, I wish a lot of things. I hope these speak to your hearts :)

I've been doing some thinking drinking

Not really. I have been doing regular thinking, and not drinking. But those are almost the same. So I just finished a paper, on Thursday night at 9 30, the first night the office was back on after months and months off...what a friggin shame. I would have given all 3 of my left testicles to watch that show, and now...nothing. Sigh, what's this world coming to when my teachers assign homework due on a Friday? I hate so much about the way that you choose to be....

So, rather than head home to an empty crib and not a lot to do, I've decided to write a little blizzle...or blizzog...or blog for all you white people who read this (pretty much everyone, right?). I was listening to a John Piper sermon today, and he was talking about this passage in Romans 8. As Paul rights, he expresses how all of creation has been subjected to this futility and is waiting to be restored to the beautiful state "of Eden." As I listened he began to speak so passionately about the state of the world, and how awful it is. Then he said this, "If you don't think it's awful than you live in a bubble, and you aren't sharing."

That statement blew me away, first because I thought it was ridiculous. I had a hard time grabbing on to the thought that this is an awful life, that it is nothing but badness...I mean, there is some good stuff right? But as he elaborated, his insight grew enormously. He wasn't talking about how our individual lives are awful, but the idea that this world has become such a terrible place. Hurricanes, genocides, tsunamis, murders, rapes, and the list goes on...it is not just humans who have been depraved, it is creation to. But as he threw this information out there (while making us all feel great down to our little toesies) I wrestled with it. I fought and fought, wanting to believe that we were not at fault. The truth is...we are.

God looked upon the sin of Adam as so outrageous, as so inhumane and hideous that the world became what it is. So we can look at it one of two ways: The first, this is terribly unfair and unjust and unwarranted and lots of other un's....we don't deserve this. Or the second, sin is a lot worse than I thought it was.

We see in Romans 8 just how much God hates sin, how powerfully and passionately he despises sin because of what it does. It's such a foreign thought to us because we love it...and yet all it does is impose itself on our hearts in place of the Creator. So I guess...think about it. Wonder why there is so much suffering in the world, wrestle with that idea. Good luck to you, it's not an easy road to walk.

Until Next Time,
Jake