Sep

That One Thing

Visits: 71 | Posted by: David in Devotional, Spiritual Musings

I am currently, and slowly, reading through John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life. I must admit that the first couple of chapters have been a little on the slow side…but that’s because much of it has been background material. This morning the reading turned a corner. Here is an excerpt I had to share:

You don’t have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world. But you do have to know a few great things that matter, perhaps just one, and hen be willing to live for them and die for them. The people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by one great thing. If you want your life to count…you have to know a few great, majestic, unchanging, obvious, simple, glorious things—or one great all-embracing thing—and be set on fire by them.

John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life, page 44.

Now that’s something I can sink my teeth into. Yes, it reminds me a little bit of the scene from City Slickerswhere Jack Palance tells Billy Crystal he has to find”that one thing”…but there is often truth in movies…you just ave to look hard for it sometimes.

So what is that one thing…or those few things…that you are mastering in your life? What guides and directs your compass? What are you set on fire by? I hope that the first thing is Christ…knowing Him and walking with Him. If not, start there.

After that…therein lies the beauty. God made you and designed you for your purpose. Part of the fun is finding out what that is and giving yourself to it 100%. Happy hunting!

Tags: Billy Crystal, City Slickers, Don't Waste Your Life, Jack Palance, John Piper

This entry was posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 6:29 am and is filed under Devotional, Spiritual Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 comments so far

Rachel

Just curious, did you finish this book? I’m reading it right now, I went to hear Piper speak in Austin last weekend. He is a PHENOMENAL speaker btw, if you ever get a chance go hear him! Anyway, just wondering what you thought of the book.

October 21st, 2008 at 7:54 pm

David

I actually didn’t…got about half way through and couldn’t finish it (which doesn’t happen often). It was a little more “heavy” than I was looking for right now, but I will revisit it. I am also planning on picking up some of his other works–which do you most recommend?

October 21st, 2008 at 9:20 pm

Rachel

Which? How can I pick? Desiring God is his best hands down but it’s very heavy. When you go through a season of major growth and you really need to press into Him then this is the book to read. The other book I am reading of his is Taste and See and it’s a lot of short devotionals but I wouldn’t really call them devotionals. Since John is often such a heavy writer I like this book cause I can easily digest one writing a day, so I leave it in the kitchen for when I’m in the middle of cooking. There are 140 different topics in this book so I don’t believe I’ll be bored in the kitchen for a while.