The Dawning of Indestructible Joy by John Piper

I was so excited to walk through Advent with some daily readings from John Piper. He is challenging to read and his love and passion for Christ flow off the pages. I knew that I would get a lot from his reminders of what Christmas is truly about and what it's not about.

As I expected, it was challenging. It was challenging in a different way than I expected. It made me want to keep my focus on Christ instead of on material things. With the loss of my grandfather right before Christmas, the cancer journey took over much of our life since June, as well as grieving my grandmother's death at Thanksgiving. With that said, I wasn't really in the "Christmas mood." This reminded me that it was okay to not feel all into the lights and traditions like I usually do. What did matter was my love for Christ and the joy Christ gives.


I read this book in about a week (could have been a lot faster), but since I was catching up front the first part of December I wanted to be sure to end by Christmas. Each day is very short and takes just a couple of minutes to read. I found that I wanted to sit and meditate on the Scripture and journal, so it took it a little longer.

This is a great book for the Christmas season, but I honestly think it's great for even those times when you just need to be reminded of the purpose of Christmas and the joy God gives.

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I received this book free from Crossway Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

Risk is Right by John Piper

I admire John Piper and love his sermons.  He is challenging, counter-cultural, and very biblical.  He doesn't tell you what you want to hear and isn't a teacher who teaches prosperity is promised to every believer.  I appreciate his knowledge on the Bible and how he challenges believers to risk everything the sake of Christ. 

Culture says we should hoard and be comfortable.  The Bible says we will have what we need and if we don't have it, perhaps we don't need it.  I liked how he talked about the passage in Matthew 6:25, 31-33 and compared it to Romans 8:35.  I hear that passage in Matthew used a lot and out of context.  Many think that God will give them clothes and food galore, but that's not what it says.  I was glad Piper pointed out that He will give us "enough so that you can trust him and do his will." 

Another point I liked had to do with affliction.  Paul made affliction his slave and conquered it.  I had never quite heard it explained like this, but the whole section about affliction was beautiful.  You can't help but see the mercy of God even in affliction when you know that the enemy wants you to die in pity and denouncing Christ.  I found that section so encouraging and hope that I will always think of affliction in this manner and can even share it with others. 

Above all, Piper reminds us that we face risks everyday.  None of us know when our time will come to perish, but what we choose to do with our lives is up to us.  Will we take the risk for Christ and make our lives count or will we choose to waste our life--living for our fleshly desires.

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I received this book free from Crossway in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

Bloodlines by John Piper

I tend to forget how much race is an issue these days.  I naturally assume that since I don't pay attention to the color of someone's skin, that everyone else does the same.  However, this book reminded me that not everyone can see past the color of a person's skin.  In fact, I think many don't.  John Piper challenges you to look deeper.  We all share the same bloodline so there should be no division.  That's even more true in the Church.  Race should never matter.

We can't overcome racial divisions by ourselves.  We need Christ to help us overcome these divisions.  The Gospel is very clear on what Jesus thinks of racial divides and persecution of others.  Racism is a sin and needs to be dealt with just like all of the other sins.  In the Church, there's not specific divisions.  There's only descendants of Abraham.

I think this book is very applicable to this generation.  We all need to be constantly reminded that God doesn't see race.  He sees the person.  With that said, we all have to work together for the Kingdom of God.

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I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.