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About the Book

"You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away" (James 4:14).

Living knowing that your life is a vapor is different than just living. Things here are passing away. You’ve got to hold on to what will stand. Savor what matters. This collection of thirty-one articles is full of that heart-longing after Christ that distinguishes Piper’s preaching ministry. Readers will feel as though they have stumbled into a garden as they enter these pages. The Scripture cuts, Christ is exalted in God, and we worship Him.

Life Is Short. Eternity Is Long. Live Like It.

You will exist forever. You and God are both in the universe to stay—either as friends on His terms, or enemies on yours—which it will be is proven in this life. And this life is a vapor. Two seconds, and we will be gone.

In these thirty-one meditations, John Piper will connect you to a fresh understanding of God and a renewed relationship with Him. You’ll find your faith stirred to make every day count for Christ when you consider life as a vapor.

Time is precious. We are fragile. Life is short. Eternity is long. Every minute counts. Oh, to be a faithful steward of the breath God has given me. Three texts resound in my ears: “Redeem the time” (Ephesians 5:16 ); “It is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy” (1 Corinthians 4:2); “His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10 ).

Surely God means for our minutes on earth to count for something significant. Paul said, “In the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain” (Philippians 2:16). In the same way, I have good hope from the Lord that my “labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

First Edition 2004
Multnomah Books (Colorado Springs, Colorado)

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Table of Contents

1. Does It Matter What Others Think
2. Suffering, Mercy, and Heavenly Regret
3. The Eye Is the Lamp of the Body
4. My Life Is a Vapor
5. God’s Favorite Color
6. Kill Anger Before It Kills You or Your Marriage
7. “Lord, Command What You Will, and Give What You Command”
8. Endings Are for Gratitude, Beginnings Are for Faith
9. Boasting in Man Is Doubly Excluded
10. All We Will Get Is Mercy
11. A Call for Coronary Christians
12. God Is Not Boring
13. Thanksgiving for the Lives of Flawed Saints
14. Why Satan Is Left on Earth
15. The Path of Wisdom May Not Be the Most Fruitful Path for God’s Glory
16. Storms Are the Triumph of His Art
17. The Value of Learning History
18. Already: Decisively and Irrevocably Free; Not Yet: Finally and Perfectly Free
19. If You Want to Love, You Must Die to the Law
20. How Open Theism Helps Us Conceal Our Hidden Idolatries
21. How to Query God
22. Why I Do Not Say, “God Did Not Cause the Calamity, But He Can Use It for Good.”
23. Hope-Giving Promises for Triumph over Sin
24. Jonathan Edwards on the Pilgrim Mindset
25. Sown in Dishonor, Raised in Glory
26. The Fierce Fruit of Self-Control
27. Thoughts on God’s Thoughts
28. Is God’s Demand for Worship Vain?
29. Taking the Swagger out of Christian Cultural Influence
30. The Sweet Commands of God to Demons, Wind, Ravens, and Love
31. Christ Suffered and Died to Deliver Us from the Present Evil Age

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Translations

Chinese-Traditional
ISBN: 986-81595-2-0

Indonesian
Publisher: Penerbit Pionir Jaya
ISBN: 979-542-274-X

Korean
Publisher: Timothy Publishing House
ISBN: 89-388-1221-9

Portugese
Publisher: Editora Mundo Cristao
ISBN: 85-7325-426-2

Spanish
Publisher: Editorial Vida
Purchase: Zondervan
ISBN: 0-8297-4457-6

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