The Wisdom of God

The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God.

J Piper
Quoted in D Beaty
An All-Surpassing Fellowship
Reformation Heritage Books
Kindle location 1849

Death

The Bible reveals that God is the one who takes life as he is the one who gives it... As God's rightful posession, life is God's to take when he pleases. He does not need to consult with anyone else because his authority as Creator, Sustainer and Owner of life puts it totally at his disposal. He is not doing any evil when he takes back the life he gave whenever he chooses.

J Piper
A Godward Life
Multnomah
p268

Reading

I've been thinking about the importance of reading and writing. There are several reasons I write. One of the most personally compelling is that I read. I mean, my main spiritual sustenance comes by the Holy Spirit from reading. Therefore reading is more important to me than eating. If I went blind, I would pay to have someone read to me. I would try to learn Braille. I would buy books on tape. I would rather go without food than without books. Therefore, writing feels very life-giving to me, since I get so much of my own life from reading.

J Piper
A Godward Life
Multnomah
p58

Wisdom

The wisdom of "the wise and understanding" has produced remarkable scientific advances. But it leaves out the most important reality, namely, God. From one side it is stunning for its achievements, and from another side it is stunning for its stupidity in missing the main thing.

J Piper
Think
IVP
p151

An American Tragedy: How Not to Finish your One Life

I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. 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.

J Piper
Don't Waste your Life
Crossway
p45 

Christ's Victory

But the most astonishing thing is that evil and suffering were Christ's appointed way of victory over evil and suffering. Every act of treachery and brutality against Jesus was sinful and evil. But God was in it. The Bible says, "Jesus [was] delivered up [to death] according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23). The lash on his back, the thorns on his head, the spit on his cheek, the bruises on his face, the nails in his hands, the spear in his side, the scorn of rulers, the betrayal of his friend, the desertion by his disciples - these were all the results of sin, and all designed by God to destroy the power of sin.

John Piper

The Passion of Jesus Christ

Crossway

p119

Freedom

The ultimate question is not who you are but whose you are. Of course, many people think they are nobody's slave. They dream of total independence. Like a jellyfish carried by the tides feels free because it isn't fastened down with the bondage of barnacles.

John Piper

The Passion of Jesus Christ

Crossway

p64

Heaven

Eternal life is not merely the extension of this life with its mix of pain and pleasure. As hell is the worst outcome of this life, so "eternal life" is the best. It is supreme and ever-increasing happiness where all sin and all sadness will be gone. All that is evil and harmful in this fallen creation will be removed. All that is good - all that will bring true and lasting happiness - will be preserved and purified and intensified.

John Piper

The Passion of Jesus Christ

Crossway

p57