![]() I’m responsible for my anger whatever she does, even if she sins against me. Now, I can give mental energy to blaming her – and without even talking to her and say: “She’s the problem!” We have our real differences, and she can say things that make me very angry. I love my wife we’re never going to leave each other. It’s good and fine to relate to people that you know and love, but we shouldn’t walk away from Christian relationships that are depleting to us. If you keep showing kindness to somebody who doesn’t give anything back to you, you keep open a door so that when they are in a crisis, they might turn to you because you’re the one person who didn’t walk away from them.Īnd the text that I use to support that is Matthew 5 where Jesus is telling them (His disciples) to love their enemies and the specific illustration He gives is: If you greet only those who greet you, what are you doing more than others? I said, if you turn away from them and don’t continue to show kindness to them, you probably close a door which they might be willing to walk through when they suffer. Yesterday, I recorded some Ask Pastor John questions and one of them was: “What do I do if I move into a neighbourhood and I wave at everybody and they all just frown at me? Should I even try anymore?” Image source: Image taken from ARPC John Piper Equip Conference Day 2: Ask Pastor John You won’t grow as a Christian – that is, you won’t have greater resources of joy, hope and love – if you pull away from every hard situation. Having said that, I’m going to encourage people to lean in to hard relationships rather than pull away. So I don’t think it’s wrong to want to be with people who make us feel more complete, more full, more appreciated, and enjoy their fellowship. ![]() So Jesus seemed to have these concentric circles of “ special” even though He gave His life for the others as well. What did that mean? It meant there was something really peculiarly wonderful between Jesus and John. Practically speaking, all of us, in our peculiar personalities, are able to enjoy some people more than other people.Įven Jesus said, this is the disciple whom He loved. Should I continue to try to maintain a relationship (with a brother or sister in Christ), even if that relationship makes me disappointed in myself? Because no matter how much I try, I don’t have any love and it brings out the worst in me. We have to fight for joy, and one of the key ways to fight is to wait for Him. Genuine saints walk through seasons of darkness. Don’t do anything precipitous in those moments of darkness, as though He’s not coming back. I have a volatile personality – like it’s up, it’s down, it’s all over the place – which means I’m capable of pretty high levels of joy and pretty low levels of discouragement.īut the lesson I have learned is to wait. So I don’t have any simple prescription for how long you might be low. I’ve known people who’ve waited eight years in depression, scarcely able to function, being kept above water by a faithful wife, and they came out of it by a miracle of God’s touch in their lives. I asked my people, back when I preached the sermon 40 years ago called “In The Pits With The King”, how long did the psalmist wait? Did he wait a day? Did he wait a week? Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.” (Psalm 40:1-3) He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. “I waited patiently for the Lord he inclined to me and heard my cry. To start the devotional via your browser or as a daily email, simply visit esv.“You can’t stop pain and tears from coming, but you can keep joy from going,” says John Piper This free devotional adapted from John Piper’s book Don’t Waste Your Life makes a passionate plea to avoid the dangers of a wasted life, and calls us to take risks and make sacrifices that matter for eternity. ![]() If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full. In other words, it is better to lose your life than to waste it. Jesus said, “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35). The path of God-exalting joy will cost you your life. The unwasted life is based on the discovery that our deepest joy and God’s beautiful majesty reach their apex together. In Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper says: Beyond the legacy that you’ll leave for your family, what gospel difference will your life have made in the world? Time is fleeting and we will have to answer for how we’ve spent our days on earth. This article is part of the ESV.org Reading Plans series.
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