Only What's Done for Christ Will Last

Written in September 2010

"For me as a boy, one of the most gripping illustrations my fiery father used was the story of a man converted in old age. The church had prayed for this man for decades. He was hard and resistant. But this time, for some reason, he showed up when my father was preaching. At the end of the service, during a hymn, to everyone's amazement he came and took my father's hand. They sat down together on the front pew of the church as  people were dismissed. God opened his heart to the Gospel of Christ, and he was saved from his sins and given eternal life. But that did not stop him from sobbing and saying, as the tears ran down his wrinkled face---and what an impact it made on me to hear my father say this through his own tears---'I've wasted it! I've wasted it!' This was the story that gripped me more than all the stories of young people who died in car wrecks before they were converted---the story of an old man weeping that he had wasted his life. In those early years God awakened in me a fear and a passion not to waste my life. The thought of coming to my old age and saying through tears, 'I've wasted it! I've wasted it!' was a fearful and horrible thought to me." - John Piper, in his book Don't Waste Your Life

If Christ is not made much of in our lives, then it's wasted. If our life and death don't show the worth, magnificence, and wonder of Christ, then it's wasted. It is better to lose your life than to waste it. Life is hard and the risks are high, but your joy will be full.

Fame, pleasure, and riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfullment of His eternal plans. The men who are putting everything into Christ's undertaking are getting out of life its most sweetest and priceless rewards.

"If I love Christ, how can He be most magnified in my behavior this afternoon, this evening, this week? How can I portray God as glorious in my actions? How can I enjoy making much of Him in this behavior? How will this help me treasure Christ more? How will it help me know or display Him more? How can my life count for the glory of God in my secular vocation?"

Remember: You only have one life. You were made for God. Don't waste it!!!

Roughly adapted from my book notes on Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper