Prologue and Chapter 1- A Single Passion to Live By

Discussion Notes:

We had a good start tonight, mainly talking about why we chose to join this book study, how the title interests us (cuz really -- who wants to waste their life?), a favourite section or idea presented in the preface & chapter 1. We looked at the chapter titles and discussed which one(s) we are looking forward to reading... e.g. James is looking forward to chapter 10 already to see what prayer Piper is talking about ;) Jon wants to know what kind of "Risk is right"; Jorge mentioned chapter 2, the Beauty of Christ, my Joy (Philippians!); I'd like to see what Piper has to say about "The Majesty of Christ in Missions and Mercy"

Miscellaneous comments:

-what does it mean to "lose your life" for Christ's sake? Because we are made holy through Him, we are to be set apart, die to your old self & sinful desires. Perhaps some of us will die in the service of Christ.
-love the first 3 words of the Preface
-the question of "whether something is permissible" should fade... remember what Cal taught us many years ago, that we should stop peering over the edge ("if i take one more step, will I fall? hmmm") and instead run towards the centre & core of safety --the main thing, the essential thing
-throughout history, not just the present day or even the recent decades, humans have tried to creat their own meaning/purpose ... these days it just has a new name, "postmoderism"
-often (especially if you are in arts, apparently!) school really does teach you the obvious... or if not in content, then at least in experience. What is human nature? how does our world work / not work? What's real? What are the illusions?
-C.S. Lewis and John F. Kennedy died on the same day!
-do you seek out the "wisdom of the ages" often enough, or are you too preoccupied with "the tyranny of novelty"?
-what does it mean to "give up" something? It does not mean to abandon everything you have a passion for (unless that passion is getting in the way of your relationship with Christ), but to place all dreams & desires at His feet and let Him lead us where He will. How will we know? We must be in a right relationship with Him to know & to recognize His voice & to discern it from other, competing voices.
-Noel Piper's response was very telling ("If that's where God leads you, that's where I'll go")

-You can listen to "Nowhere Man" here (ignore the slightly psychedelic video) and "Blowing in the Wind" here (a song I totally grew up with! did any of you?)

Contributed by Carmen

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One of the reasons why I wanted to join this group is that He has been very real to me recently. I wish that I could say that I'm always on fire for Him and desire to serve Him 24/7… but the fact is that I'm not. I get lazy, I get tired, I lose sight of my purpose in life at times. However, being reminded and refreshed with His presence, it has become more clear to me how I don't want to look back and say that I didn't risk doing something because I was just waiting for a confirmation, because I feel incompetent, or simply because I wanted to wait to make sure that my decisions were the 'right' ones to make- i.e. is this from God?? This is why this book excites me so much… I want to have the courage to pursue what God has in store for me, to stop sitting, and to take action and to serve Him with my all.

A few points really stuck out to me in the first chapter:

1) Waiting and seeking (with reference to 'Waiting for Godot' pg. 15)

Many times, I take the time to pray and wait and seek the Lord's will for me. I wait and wait and still don't know if this is God's will or if it is the right choice… and I think this is interesting because in that time, I could've done something for the Lord. There are various areas that I've been praying about serving in and I do feel that I may not be the best person to take the position, or that I may lack the skills… however, perhaps God IS calling me to take action, otherwise, this thought should not be tugging so persistently in my heart.

Still chewing on this one. If you want to know more- feel free to just ask me:)

2) Learning to See (Reference: pg. 18)

'there are daily wonders that will waken worship if we open our eyes.'—love this line!

"you can't go through life just 'seeing through' things forever…" – C.S. Lewis

Once again, a great reminder. You can't go through life trying to think that once you get from point A to B, you'll be set- you need to live each moment. Every moment is a new adventure, a new way to glorify His name… how fulfilling! Even in tough times, we need to live in that moment and see the situation for what it is… as a new challenge to grow, and to see it as God given… as a new opportunity to serve and take another risk for His glory!

Contributed by Karen


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In the DWYL, it also mentioned a bible verse: "there is nothing new under the sun". (In Ecclesiastes, one of my favoured book..yeah). It is true that every second could be a new adventure, because there is so much we don't know about our infinitely God. If we get into the right attitude of learning/seeking, we will know more and more about Him, even though through doing some of the routine work in our daily life, such as dish washing, busing/driving to work/school, looking at people's eyes ball everyday, :P and etc.

May the Holy Spirit continuous work into our heart and we continuous confess our sin and be a true believer, Monday to Sunday, 24/7, instead of Sunday church goers!!

Contributed by Jon

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One part from your sharing that quite jumped out at me....... "I don't want to look back and say that I didn't risk doing something because I was just waiting for a confirmation, because I feel incompetent, or simply because I wanted to wait to make sure that my decisions were the 'right' ones to make- i.e. is this from God??............... perhaps God IS calling me to take action, otherwise, this thought should not be tugging so persistently in my heart." I'm sort of going through this thought process too on something..... although I really think I know what God is whispering to me, and I'm on the cusp of committing myself one way. I just haven't done it yet, because you know. We can be so chicken to leap sometimes. But truly, I don't know what I'm waiting for (the answer to this situation is so ridiculously obvious as I type out these words!).

Why I wanted to join thie DWYL group: It's really not a deep spiritual reason...... I've been wanting to read something by Piper for awhile, and one of the last times I went to Mitchell's in TO, I looked up his books. This was the only one available, so that's what I picked up! It has been on my shelf since, and it worked out perfectly that this was the book Carmen was interested in reading this summer. Eventhough my reason is pretty much to satisfy my personal curiosity/interest, I have no doubt that this book and this group will be a tool used to shape me this summer! And so I'm excited to be on this journey with all of you. :)

One detail that caught my eye from the chapter: I really loved how one simple sign in his childhood home.... one simple image on a simple plaque, had such significance in Piper's life. I guess I just love things like that.... little every day things that end up making such a big difference. It's a big reminder that there is nothing that is too unimportant to make a difference to someone.

The book isn't in front of me at the moment, but the thing from the chapter that connected with me most was also the citation from CS Lewis about seeing through everything, and how that amounts to seeing nothing at all. It doesn't have a direct application for anything I'm going through in life right now, but the clear logic in his writing always amazes me, and I found his point to be so true. In this world where there is so much to capture our attention, it is far too easy to miss (willingly or not) seeing the unshakable Truth. And on the other hand, it's easy to see how frail and wrong the world is and become critical, trying to see through the surface of everything to find the underlying flaws....... stubbornly unconvinced that anything can be good and solid and sovereign. Both is a sort of blindness..

Good thing for us, there IS a God that is above all this, who promises to be found if we would but seek Him (Ps 9:10, Jer 29:13). Lately, something God has been letting me realize more and more is how frail we are, and how broken the world is. It is SO GOOD to realize that there is a God that stands apart from all this.... who is all-good and all-powerful and unchanging, and is NOT frail and flawed. And that He actually WANTS to be the one to heal us, and WANTS to be known by us?! How unbelievable is that?? I keep thinking of the gods and goddesses that the ancient Greeks and Romans worshipped, each with their own vices. They were immortal, but they were definitely not perfect. What security it is that we do not put our trust in a God like that!

It's soooo good, isn't it. :) And if we know that, how can we keep "wasting our lives"? I'm so encouraged to be surrounded by peers who don't want to waste their days living for their own desires. As we continue on with this book, may it be a tool to teach us, and may we spur each other on in pursuing the purpose that the Lord has for us!

Contributed by Steph