The normal rule of book reviews is that you have to finish the book. Which makes sense. However, if you are a normal person, it is extremely hard to finish a book. For example, I have been trying to read the book Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper, for the past 6 months and I’m only half way through. So obviously I am not qualified to give a book review on this book. But because I have experience living, I can give insight on one of the most important topics discussed in one of these articles. Which is to not waste your life.

Purpose of Life.

First what even is the purpose of our life here on earth? This is a question that people struggle to answer throughout their entire lives, and people who are not in Christ may never find it. However, through Christ, God gives all of us a purpose.

First our purpose is to glorify God:

"I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’
Bring my sons from far away,
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
everyone who bears my name
and is created for my glory.
I have formed them; indeed, I have made them.”
Isaiah 43:6-7

God created us, and all of creation to bring Glory and Honor to himself. So our lives should bring Honor and Glory to God. This may sound restrictive, but really seeing how much God has done for us, it should be second nature. Let me explain. We have all turned away from God, meaning all of us were destined for eternity separated from the giver of life. However, God sacrificed himself so that if we believe in Jesus we could be reunited with him. We have been given life through faith, so we should all desire to glorify God who has done that for us.

Our next purpose is to make sure everyone around us knows about the love of God. You can see this all through the Bible, and in this verse in Isaiah where it says bring in God’s sons and daughters from all over the earth. Then again in probably the most famous verses about this, Matthew 28:19, “ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” which is just part of the great commission.

So we are commanded to first bring glory to God in our lives, then share the love of God so that everyone brings glory to God.

A Wasted Life.

What then is a wasted life? Simply put a wasted life is one that does not bring God Glory and does not share the Glory of God. One thing John Piper does well in the first half of the book is expose the American dream. Expose it for the self-centered illusion that it is. What do we want our lives to look like in 5 years? 10 years? When we retire? If you’re anything like me you daydream about living on an acreage, maybe in a log cabin, kids and dogs running around the front yard, enough money to never have to worry, and a loving spouse. But where am I getting these dreams? From an idolized view of prosperity.

The following is a story from Don’t Waste Your Life, which has quoted Reader’s Digest, concerning the “American Dream.” The story is about a couple who “took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was fifty-nine and she was fifty-one. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball, and collect shells.” This is the dream. But how sad is that life? They ran and ran after success on earth their whole life. Probably putting their job in front of everything. For what? To retire early and relax? I love what John Piper says about this, “Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgement: “Look, Lord. See my shells.””

That is a life that has been wasted. A life fully pursuing the things of the world. And to just get to Christ and say “I didn’t follow you, but I did do pretty well on earth.”

As a college student myself this has caused an almost existential crisis. Because the reason I came to college was to be able to make a lot of money down the road. But what I am seeing is that my life really isn’t about making money. So I’ve needed to change my view of college to one that is entirely Glorifying to God.

Live for Our Purpose.

If we know what the purpose of life is, and how living apart from that gets you nowhere, how then should we live? We should live for the purpose God has created us for. We should let everything we do Glorify God. Think how can we use our current situations to not build ourselves up, but lift up our creator?

Every situation you are in, going to school, working a job, hanging with friends, everything should be turned towards the eternal goal of Glorifying God. Understanding God’s purpose for our lives should destroy our idolatry of prosperity, and make us yearn for His Will in our lives.

I want to share another expert from Don’t Waste Your Life to finish this off.

"In April 2000, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards were killed in Cameroon, West Africa. Ruby was over eighty. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing eighty years old herself, and serving at Ruby’s side. The brakes on their car failed, it went over a cliff, and they were both killed instantly."

Their lives were not wasted, because the purpose of their lives was to Glorify their Creator.

By: Aaron Hershberger