Book Review: Don't Waste Your Life

Our church just recently finished a small group study on John Piper's book, Don't Waste Your Life. The book has been a help to me and I highly recommend it.

In contrast to Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life", which was published about the same time, "Don't Waste Your Life" is not as broad in the topics it covers, but it goes deeper in the areas it does discuss. It also has a more accurate presentation of how a person becomes a Christian.

John Piper seems to know how to communicate in a way that is clear, substantive, and satisfying. For me, Don't Waste Your Life addressed some troubling questions that had lurked in the back of my mind for years, questions I had never seen anyone else address so solidly, with a beautiful blend of theology and practicality:

• How can we combine our instinctive desire to be happy with our duty to honor God? (Chapter 2)
  
• How do we, practically, guard against the danger of falling in love with the gifts of God instead of God Himself? (Chapter 3)
• When is it right to risk physical danger for the sake of the gospel? (Chapter 4)
• How do we reconcile God's promises to provide for our physical needs with the fact that sometimes Christians do sometime starve to death or otherwise murdered? (Chapter 5)
  
• What does a desire to honor Jesus look like in shoe leather -- the way we use our money and time? (Chapter 7) (Includes one of the best warnings about TV I've read.)
  
• What is God's purpose for our "secular" vocations? Why does God want Christians to have jobs? (Chapter 8)
  
• How does a Christian know if he's called to frontier missions? (Chapter 9)
  

I wish he had included a chapter on what exalting Christ looks like in the way we relate to our family members, but on the issues Piper does address, he hits home runs.

You can download the complete book (and accompanying, helpful Study Guide) for free from this page.

If you are really bored, or have difficulty reading, a Korean friend and I have been reading the book aloud and discussing it. You can listen to our (very informal) conversations using the following link.