Don't Waste Your Life

Seth Godin, one of today’s best marketing minds, wrote a blog post last week entitled “Is it worthy?”

Godin reflects on whether any of his efforts are worth the investments and sacrifices of others, or whether someone else could have done better with the resources that he has been given.

Godin concludes his reflection:

The object isn’t to be perfect. The goal isn’t to hold back until you’ve created something beyond reproach. I believe the opposite is true. Our birthright is to fail and to fail often, but to fail in search of something bigger than we can imagine. To do anything else is to waste it all.

There is much to affirm here. Yes, we fail and fail often. Yes, we should participate in something unimaginably big. And, no, the fear of failure should not keep us from continuing in this pursuit.

Godin’s remarks also raise two questions for me:

1. Is searching for “something bigger than we can imagine” enough, or do we need to find something, too?

The seeking is essential, but only because what we find is so wonderful. The asking is important and valuable because of the answers.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed….
The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:4-6, 10)

2. Can we be set free from the fear of failure by telling ourselves that it is in our nature to fail?

In part, yes, but for the Christian there is far more. The fear of failure is ultimately conquered through Christ. We need to…

• …own up to our sin—the real failure. We fall short of and belittle the glory of God by pursuing our own greatness. (Romans 1:18-23;3:23)
• …change our goal. In faith, we should pursue the glory of Christ, the perfect one, rather than our own perfection. (Galatians 5:1-5)
• …trust in Christ for our perfection, because we are judged according to his righteousness as he intercedes on our behalf continually before God, the Father. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Recently Desiring God has been working with ReachLife Ministries. I've asked Trip Lee of Reach Records to tell us some of what God is doing through their work and our partnership.

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Too many youth today are wasting their lives. Our culture promotes it: "Buy this, wear that, drive this." Some cultures pride themselves on that very message. This is particularly true in the hip hop culture.

Unfortunately, many today believe the hip hop culture is unredeemable, better left to itself. Hip-hop is rarely thought of as a culture that ought to be invaded with the truth of Jesus Christ. Truth is, there's a desperate need of Christians who are willing to spend their lives in order to reach it and say with Paul, “I am not ashamed of the gospel” (Romans 1:16).

Reach Records and ReachLife Ministries are devoted to doing just that; reaching the hip-hop culture for the glory of God. We embrace the truth that all cultures are wicked and sinful—that is, until people within that culture are confronted with the truth of Jesus Christ. Our goal is to be used by God for this very purpose.

Reach Records creates music that is relevant to the culture and is packed full of biblical truth. This platform has proven to be an incredible tool, both to introduce people to Jesus Christ, as well as help others go deeper in their faith. Through our music, we have the opportunity to reach a culture that otherwise would have no interest in what we have to say.

As a result of the music, it became apparent that many in this culture lacked solid biblical tools and resources to disciple them in the Christian life. Therefore, we created ReachLife ministries, a non-profit organization which produces Christ-centered tools and resources for urban churches and ministries to provide what music is not designed to do, disciple.

This summer, we are very excited about the opportunity to travel the country for our first official concert tour. The “Unashamed Tour” will hit around 25 cities in the US and the UK. It will be an incredible opportunity to encourage young believers all over the globe to not waste their lives and to be unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Each of us at ReachLife has been deeply impacted by the ministry of Desiring God and we are excited about the recent partnership with them. They have agreed to donate 10,000 copies of the book Don't Waste Your Life, which will be distributed free at our concerts this summer.

These books will be placed in the hands of urban youth across the country who have never been exposed to Desiring God or the teachings of John Piper. I cannot express the excitement I feel when I see young hip-hoppers not only hearing about the glory of Christ through our concert, but also leaving with resources that will help them to continue in that excitement.

Please join us in praying that the Lord will use both the tour and the books to glorify himself as he calls this generation to live unashamed.

Thanks to Jim for bringing this applicable clipping into work:

Last week my wife found our mini-van window shattered and our stereo missing. Honestly, my first reaction was not biblically informed. My thoughts ran to Murphy's Law and the irony that I had just replaced our broken stereo with a new one two weeks earlier.

As with all shallow adages, Murphy's Law did not really help me make sense of my world.

Then my mind fled to Jesus’ words,

…lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,... where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-20)

Now, a week later, I am thankful that God conspires against my sin to keep me from loving things, and I'm contemplating not shelling out more money to replace the stereo.

I think I want to leave that big hole in the middle of my dashboard. What better way to remind myself and my family that our treasure is in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal?

In 1797, William Wilberforce wrote A Practical View of Christianity in which he addressed the defective nature of the Christianity many middle and upper class people in England professed. Here is an excerpt that sounds as if it could have been written about today. It makes plain that affluence has a consistent effect on Christians in every age.

Yet thus life rolls away with too many of us in a course of shapeless idleness. Its recreations constitute its chief business…amusements are multiplied, and combined, and varied, to fill up the void of a listless and languid life; and by the judicious use of these different resources, there is often a kind of sober settled plan of domestic dissipation, in which with all imaginable decency year after year wears away in unprofitable vacancy. Even old age often finds us pacing in the same round of amusements which our early youth had tracked out. (99)

Individually, let’s pray, plan, and live in such a way that no one could use his words to describe our lives:

• “shapeless idleness”
• “listless and languid”
• “domestic dissipation”
• “unprofitable vacancy”

Collectively, let’s pray, plan, and live so that affluent American Christianity does not devolve into

a system of decent selfishness…a system scarcely more to be abjured for its impiety, than to be abhorred for its cold insensibility to the opportunities of diffusing happiness. (99)

Leprosy can make life a lot simpler. Being terminally ill often cultivates the clarity of mind that enables people to approach things that are good for them, but which previously made them cower.

Remember the four lepers of Samaria? The city was being starved to death under siege from Syria, and these four were stuck outside the gate between the city and the Syrian army.

They deliberated,

If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die. (2 Kings 7:4)

The question wasn’t whether or not they'd die. That was the no-brainer that their leprosy helped them recognize. The issue, then, was simply when and where: Next week in the city? Tomorrow at the gate? Or today at the hands of our enemies?

They concluded that their enemies could do nothing more to them than what nature had already assigned. And, unlike their city and their skin, their enemies might even show them mercy.

So, in this case, the most frightful prospect was actually the wisest, most fruitful way to go.

Most people think of a sticker as an insignificant little decoration to go on a car bumper or a kid's toy or a guitar case. But I've seen a sticker accomplish significant things.

Once, at a little Mexican place called El Mirador in Pismo Beach, CA, I met a middle-aged man sitting across the booth from his elderly father. While I was ordering, he read my T-shirt.

"What does 'Don't Waste Your Life' mean?" He had a gruff voice, a pony-tail under a baseball cap, and smelled like cigarettes.

"Well, what do you think it means to not waste your life?" I asked.

"You just gotta work hard and be good to people and love your family as best you can," he said.

I handed him a sticker. On the front was the phrase, "Don't Waste Your Life," and on the back was a single sentence:

The greatest cause in the world is joyfully rescuing people from hell, meeting their earthly needs, making them glad in God, and doing it with a kind, serious pleasure that makes Christ look like the Treasure he is.

I talked with him for a few minutes about why that statement is true and why a life for Christ is more than all good intentions and family and hard work.

There was no miraculous breakthrough at that little Mexican restaurant. He probably finished his taco and had a cigarette. But I gave him the sticker, and I pray God uses the truth on it to stir his heart and open his eyes to the only lasting treasure in the universe: Jesus Christ. If God is "able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask or imagine," then he is certainly able to use a sticker for His kingdom.

We have several new products that we hope will help you reach others with the message that Jesus is a worthwhile treasure—these stickers, as well as a DWYL-themed poster and some journals. Of course, in themselves they are insignificant, but we hope and trust that through Christ, they will become tools to accomplish his significant work.

Recently I received an email from Anita, whose grandmother had just passed away at the age of 91. Nana, as she was called, was a modern-day testimony of what it means that "to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

Anita wrote,

About 5 years ago, Nana was given a book to read. The book was called Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. Nana loved this book. She read it out loud to herself (and to anyone within earshot)… twice!

At one point in the book, John Piper reflects on the Bible verse in Philippians where Paul says, "to live is Christ, to die is gain." He says that "death is a threat to the degree that it frustrates your main goals." I was reflecting on this and realized that Nana was not threatened by death…. In fact, she frequently told us over the past few years that she probably wouldn't live much longer—to the point where it became a joke!

Death has not robbed Nana of what she treasured the most. Death does not rob Nana of Christ. She lived for Christ, and now (because of Christ) her death is her gain. She is with her Lord and Savior.

So what does an email like this mean for me at the age of 24?

It is an encouragement and a reminder to not be fearful of death no matter if I live till tomorrow or till I’m 91. It is a reminder that death is not a bad thing if you are in Christ Jesus. In fact, it is the most exciting, most joyful thing to know that we will be sharing in eternity with our Savior!

This email is a reminder that we have one life to live for Christ. It has given me an increased desire to hear in the end, when all is said and done, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25: 23).

The Don’t Waste Your Life podcast is about one year old now. Our goal for this project has been to offer regular encouragement to make the most of your life.

What that has meant for me is hours if not days of watching interviews and other clips multiple times hoping to find something that would be challenging and thought-provoking to you, the viewer.

As some of you may already know from our latest episode, we are looking to change things up a bit by posting your videos about what the unwasted life is and examples of what it looks like.

There are endless stories that could be told. So, using the same medium that the world uses to glorify the wasted life, let’s use video to promote the unwasted life and to glorify Christ.

All the video from the DWYL conference is now available.

Read the call to missions that John Piper gave this evening. (Update: You can now listen to this message, too.)

The only sign of religion I saw while driving through Malibu today—alongside the Mercedes, Porsches, and Ferraris—was a single cross carved into the side of a college building.

True, a lack of churches on main street is not a certain indication of a city's spiritual condition, but it made me remember Pastor John's exhortation on Saturday to beware the love of money.

Malibu has nice houses, great views, big beaches, and wonderful weather. No doubt about it—part of me would enjoy spending some extended time there. But I'm thinking that, on account of my weakness, I'd do better to join Agur in his prayer:

Give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
(Proverbs 30:8-9)

You can now listen to or read the notes from "The Appearance of the Unwasted Life, Part 2," John Piper's final message from the DWYL conference.

You can now listen to or read the notes from "The Appearance of the Unwasted Life," John Piper's 3rd message at the DWYL conference.

You can now listen to or read the notes from "The Origin of the Unwasted Life," John Piper's 2nd message at the DWYL conference.

I asked Scott Anderson, Events Director at Desiring God, why we're having this regional conference here in San Luis Obispo.

The idea came about three years ago during the Passion book promotion. The Central Coast Evangelical Pastors Network (CCEPN) did a massive giveaway, and I knew at that time that we must have some mission partners out there.

That's when we connected with Steve Potratz, owner of Parable and chair of the CCEPN steering committee. God graced us with a relationship with him and, through him, a coalition of churches and people who have now gone through several Piper books and DVD kits. Conversations about a regional conference also began to stir.

It's because of their partnership that we've been able to host this conference and the big college event here at Cal Poly tomorrow night.

So we chose San Luis Obispo because of key relationships out there.

We also chose it because it's a really nice place to live, which means that the temptation to waste your life is strong here. So it's a place that needs to hear the call to not waste your life.

We want the central coast of California to be a sending place to the world rather than a destination.

On my flight yesterday morning, I asked two fellow California-bound travelers, “What do you think a conference about not wasting your life would be about?”

“I think of a self-help program with some guy giving ten easy steps for how to not waste your life,” was Eric’s response.

Ben had the same notion, only a little more specific: “It sounds like a self-help group that’s focused on career development.”

“What is a wasted life?” I then asked.

Eric didn’t hesitate: “It’s when someone doesn’t challenge themselves and doesn’t constantly seek new experiences in life.”

“It’s when someone doesn’t seek the good of society but only seeks to benefit themselves,” said Ben.

John Piper just finished his first of three messages on this theme of Don't Waste Your Life, here in San Luis Obispo.

Read or listen to what he has to say about “The Essence of the Unwasted Life.”

Today in Johannesburg, South Africa, I had lunch with Pastor Tim Cantrell of Honeyridge Baptist Church. Tim and his wife Michelle are from California and have taken up residence here, committing themselves to the ministry of this church. Yesterday an associate here in the region gave me a copy of a short article that Michelle wrote last year. I was touched by the description of their calling to minister in this country.

I could faithfully serve Christ and the gospel in another country. But I wouldn’t expect to reap the same amount of fruit as in a desperate place like Africa: “God chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him.” (James 2:5). People here see their need for the Great Physician. People are suffering. We have the cure that they are asking for. The gospel (a biblical worldview) is the ultimate cure for AIDS and poverty and crime. In more western countries, people are deceptively self-sufficient and hardened to the gospel. Why not stay where the harvest is ripe and the workers are few?

Read the full article (PDF).

As I was reflecting on the latest DWYL Podcast, featuring Joshua Project and its focus on world evangelization, I was drawn back to read about this unfinished task in the book, Don’t Waste Your Life.

For its own soul the church [and me too] needs to be involved in missions. We will not know God in his full majesty until we know him moving triumphantly among the nations. We will not admire and praise him as we ought until we see him gathering a company of worshipers for himself from every people group on earth—including all the Muslim and Hindu and Buddhist peoples. Nothing enlarges our vision of God’s triumphant grace like the scope of his saving work in history. (pg. 172-3)

Many Christmas celebrations, stories, gatherings, devotionals, etc. seem to focus simply on the baby in the manger, and often they don't leave the manger.

If I never leave the manger in my Christmas meditations, I miss the scope and depth of Christmas. The baby Jesus left the manger, increased in wisdom and stature, showed us true righteousness, and gave his life to ransom a people from the many peoples of the world.

For a meaningful Christmas season—and a meaningful life—it is essential to see that Christ was undertaking a global mission when he became a little baby in a manger.

We recently received a testimony from a friend of DG who ministers to women at an Ohio county jail. She told us about her relationship with Julie.

When Julie began attending a weekly Bible study at the jail, she was a quiet, stony woman filled with anger, distrust, and doubt that the Bible study or the people ministering at it had anything to offer her. Our friend gave Julie a copy of Don't Waste Your Life and continually welcomed her to the study. Over the course of a few weeks, Julie, by God's gracious and gentle hand, began to soften. She began interacting more in the study, she encouraged her cell-mate to attend, she read Scripture and asked questions. Three weeks after their initial contact, Julie spoke in private with our friend.

"I don't know if I can get this out," tears now rolling down her face. "I walked with God 30 years ago..." Long pause. "This book was for me! You came here for me! I have lived my entire life in sin. Anger and bitterness is all that I have known. I just wanted to thank you for coming here."

Julie was released from prison two days later, saying she was going home, had surrendered her life to Jesus, and was planning with her husband to attend church. Our friend learned that ten days later Julie, at age 44, passed away unexpectedly. She died one month to the day from first receiving love from one of God's servants and hearing the call to an unwasted life. She placed her faith in Jesus, treasuring him above everything else and submitting to him as the Lord of her life, and has now entered into eternal and infinite joy in God's presence.

We've just released two new videos on the Don’t Waste Your Life Podcast of John Piper encouraging baby boomers to not waste their retirement. If retirement is a long way off for you, you may find these videos a great reminder that life is not about trying to pack money away so that you can avoid hardships at the end of life.

(If you would like to use these videos for larger groups you can download the hi-resolution videos found in iTunes.)

Here's the gist of the message you will hear in these videos:

Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who “took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.” At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life—your one and only precious, God-given life—and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “Look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life. (Don't Waste Your Life, 45-46)

“The greatest cause in the world is joyfully rescuing people from hell, meeting their earthly needs, making them glad in God, and doing it with a kind, serious pleasure that makes Christ look like the Treasure he is.” John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life, pg. 122

At Desiring God, it is our passion that as many people as possible will embrace this greatest cause for their life’s work. To that end, we hope you will be encouraged by a few new things at dontwasteyourlife.com.

• Released the 27th DWYL podcast, which is the beginning of a 4 part interview with the rock band Mainstay. We hope that you will be encouraged to hear how they seek to not waste their lives.
  
  
• Redesigned dontwasteyourlife.com with better navigation, a cleaner look, and a few more ways to get connected and spread the message.

A few months ago the International Outreach department here at DG donated several cases of books to a church in Pretoria that was hosting a youth conference. The event's theme was "Don't Waste Your Life," so they handed out copies of Don't Waste Your Life during the conference. The goal of the event was to challenge “teens, students and young adults to passionately live for Christ, and to not waste their lives on trivial or selfish pursuits.” We recently received a note of gratitude and a report on how the conference went:

During the evening we worshipped the LORD in song, watched DWYL podcasts, and were challenged by the evangelist Terry Rae. We also heard testimonies from various people about what God is doing in their lives.

One of the testimonies they had planned for the evening was from a man who left his career as an accountant to become a pastor and church planter. He started a Bible college at age 60 (which is still thriving). “He was still writing Christian books and tracts, speaking at youth groups and student meetings, preaching into his 90’s.” He died shortly before reaching his 95th birthday, less than 2 weeks before the conference.

After the example of his life was shared, the youth were challenged with the words of Jim Elliot, “When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die.”

What does a young, cash-strapped, spreading-oriented Christian Hedonist do when he is going to pick up his first son in Addis Ababa? He researches a church that he could encourage and emails DG with a proposal. His idea went something like this.

I have found a Sovereign Grace church in Addis Ababa. I would like to find the pastor and deliver DG resources to him. If you can donate some resources to me, I have 5 lbs of room in my suitcase.

We received the following update and photo from Dustin:

They were ear-to-ear smiles with thankfulness for the generosity of Desiring God. They were humbled by the gift and thankful to have the resources to use to further the Gospel in Ethiopia. The pastor wrote out a thank you, and here it is word for word:

"Dear Desiring God Ministries: Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless you for your kindness in sending all the books and DVD materials. They will be a great help for advancing the Gospel here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Sincerely, Molalign (Mo) Senior Pastor, Covenant Life Church, Addis Ababa"

When Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, gave the 2005 Stanford commencement address, he essentially challenged the graduates to not waste their lives. Although his conclusions about how to not waste life fall short, it is interesting that Mr. Jobs tells his listeners to 1) trust in Providence, 2) see purpose in their suffering, and 3) reflect every day on the reality of death.