Express delight to complete it
This book by John Piper has been one of the most influential on my faith. Enjoy this excerpt.
: : :
Excerpt from Desiring God
It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.
There is the solution!
We praise what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in praise.
If we were not allowed to speak of what we value, and celebrate what we love, and praise what we admire, our joy would not be full.
So if God loves us enough to make our joy full, He must not only give us Himself; He must also win from us the praise of our hearts—not because He needs to shore up some weakness in Himself or compensate for some deficiency, but because He loves us and seeks the fullness of our joy that can be found only in knowing and praising Him, the most magnificent of all Beings.
– John Piper
: : :
Subscribe by email to get the daily excerpt
I always enjoy any book by John Piper and this one was no exception! The one book of his that really changed my life a few years ago was When I Don’t Desire God. The Lord truly used that book to help me accept some life changing experiences at that particular time in my life. Love the excerpt you’ve chosen to share here, Lisa! Hugs
That’s one of his books that I haven’t read so I’m glad you brought it up. I’ll go add it to my list right now. I’ve started using Goodreads more and if I put it there, maybe that’ll remind me sooner rather than later to read this one. Thanks, Dianna!
‘If we were not allowed to speak of what we value, and celebrate what we love, and praise what we admire, our joy would not be full. ‘ = MAGNIFICENT!
It took me a lot of years before I realized that truth, but once I got it, it makes such good sense.
Wow. That is a powerful paragraph. That’s a keeper…
It was hard to pick just a few paragraphs from this book. One of my absolute faves.
I am really enjoying this series!!
Thanks, Bri. It’s been good for my soul to reminisce through some dear books.
Good thoughts. I’ve enjoyed some of his blog posts but I don’t think I have ever read a complete book of his, except one that was a long (and very good) poem about Job. This sounds like a good one to start with.
If you could only read one of Piper’s books, Desiring God is the one I’d recommend of his books that I’ve read so far. My second choice–and a very close second–would be Future Grace, also very influential in my faith.
Pingback: My reading list January 2014