"Do your best to present yourself to god as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth" 2 Timothy 2:15

"Learning not to cut off my own Head"

John Piper continued looking for a real objective truth in the bible. What did God really mean when he wrote the bible. John Piper again highlights the Existentialist thing of the day. When you read a book you form your own interpretations of what the author meant, but in reality your interpretations may be wrong since you didnt have access to the authors intention when he first put the words down. So the same thing can happen in the bible. John piper gives the analogy that the bible is a lump of clay and  I am the potter. Interpretation is creation. But John Piper wasnt satisified in this hodgepodge thinking. There has to be objective truth in the bible not found in our flawed interpretations.

"Defending the brightness of the broad day sun"

And so Piper came across the words of E.D. Hirsch. Hirsch argued there does exist objective truth in what a writer, writes, and that this truth can be backed up by valid points. In addition when an author writes a book, he writes the book to be interpreted the way he intends the book to be seen. It's like the golden rule."Read others the way you would like to be read". When I say move left, there shouldnt be 20 different explanations on what I meant. The bible is the same way, it is brutally honest and true. We may not know all the answers, but gods intended meaning is clear as day.

"The Death of God and the Death of Meaning"

This one shocked me, in April of 1966, Time magazine published "Is God Dead?". Im guessing this article is what inspired the movie "God is not Dead", which was a good movie by the way. Pipe points down that this sentiment was not something new, it had been said by the Philoshopher Friedrich Nietzche before. After looking more closely into the beliefs of Nietzche, I was astounded here was a man who truly hates God. In order to achieve success in life of be a "superman" as Nietzche puts it you must not be a christian. Christianity makes you weak, it tells you that all of your innate desires are bad. He thinks that once a person cant get the girl, the job, or the promotion, etc. they start making excuses for why that is, christiannity for Nietzche is a convenient excuse. Nietzche and the existentialist believe that God is dead, man doesnt need God we can fend for ourselves we create the things of this world. So Piper turned away from this subject view on life, and sought to see what the Bible said about the meaning of Life.

"Learning the "Severe Discipline" of Reading the Bible"

Piper pays homage to Daniel Fuller, a hermeneutic, a person that teaches the science of how to interpret the bible. He explains that the bible is like a chain, each passage connects or is related to all of the other passages

"A glimpse of why I and everything Exist"

Delighting in God and Glorifying his name are not mutually exclusive, when you glorify his name you find joy a peace that wells up like a spring. "One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple." Psalm 27:4

"An Eighteenth Century Preacher Sealed the Breakthrough"

John Piper's favorite antiquated preacher, jonathon edwards, taught him that "Being happy in God was the way we glorify him". Jonathan Edwards had so much faith in this idea that he resolved himself to "endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world[heaven] as I possibly can.

"The Great coming together for me"

Growing up John Piper had 2 ideas that were constantly in conflict about the meaning of life. Either we live life to pursue happiness or live life to glorify life. Can one really be happy doing god's bidding, Jesus said they would hate us because the world first hated him, why not just delight in all the pleasures of this world. But Piper shows that the 2 are the same goal. Displaying gods glory must be done with joy in the heart, with passion and fervor for his beauty.

"The Crystal Clear Reason for life"

The bible is super clear that we were created for his glory (Isaiah 43:6-7). Everything you do must be for the glory of god, even eating and drinking(1 Cor 10:31). And Glorifying god does not mean adding more glory to God, Piper points out that glorify is used more like the term magnify, in that we reaveal in great detail the great qualities of god to others

"Does Being Loved Mean Being Made Much Of"

If god created us for the sole pupose of giving him glory, does that mean we are being used. Piper explains our worldly view of love, which is when someone increase our own self esteem, or we make someone feel special, cannot be compared to the love god provides. We were meant to show people the awesomeness of the creator of the universe. Piper gives a good illustration, loving someone greater than god, is like  "taking someone to the peak of Mount Everest, and locking them in a room full of mirrors."

"Pathological at the Grand Canyon"

God made us small and utterly insignificant when compared to the heavens and space to demonstarte the grandeur of his power the perfection and mangonimity of his design.

"Loving people means pointing them to the all satisfying god"

"Let your light shine before others , so they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16. God is what people need most deeply in todays world. This reminded me of Jonathan Isaac, the lone NBA player who decided to stand while everyone else knealt for the National Anthem. When asked about why he stood he said that the Gospel is what everyone needs to hear, that is the most important thing, that solves everything, not showing forth this light is the definition of not loving your fellow neighbor.

"Is Eternal Life a heaven full of Mirrors"

God Loves us by giving us eternal Life. What is Eternal Life? "And this is Eternal Life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whome you have sent" (John 17:3). We should only be in awe of one person, Jesus, he is the embodiment of all skill, all beauty all righteosness, every good thing that god ever made.

"Are you Being Used"

John Piper reiterates his main point that, "he is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him". As a kid I was always told that I should not love anyone more than god, and that god loves me more than I can imagine. Hearing John Pipers main point, I can see being satisfied in Gods great love is the best I can do, desiring good, never throwing away the immense love and care he shows me though I may falter him.

"Finally Free to embrace the Single Passion for which I was made"

John Piper finally understood that the objective goal in Life was to glorify god in everything we do, all those years of searching finally culminated in something awesome and real. Recently I visited the city of Detroit although the city is great and has a long history, me and my friend were able to see the major sights in one day. On my way back I was more amazed by the way god the creator and artist shows his beauty in a fall sunrise or the vast array of color he paints on the trees over here. It truly feels like fall, the weather, the warmth, god created it all.

"Now enters the glory of Christ Jesus"

"Only whats done for christ will last". Jesus was turned into a man, felt the same temptations, and emotions as man, and through it all persevered and died for our sins. We must take up our cross just as jesus did, because those actions will be the only thing that matters when all is said and done.

"All things were made for him"

"All things were created through hiim and for him"-Colossians 1:16. Jesus gave up everything to serve his father in heaven. "Father the hour has come; glorify your son that the son may glorify you"- John 17:1. As John Piper points out, Jesus' bloody death is the blazing center of the glory of God. Piper then draws a parallel to John 14:6, by saying that there is no way to the glory of the father but through the son.

"If we reject him, We reject God"

Jesus is the litmus test of reality. If a religion rejects Jesus as the savior of humanity, then they reject God and hence are a false religion. On a personal level John Piper illustrates John 5:23 "Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him"

"The Gospel is the Good News of the Glory of Christ"

Just like the parable of the farmer and the seeds, we must take the gospel and accept it, better yet share it with the world. What great news it is to know that you are loved and that there is freedom from chains of sin! One thing that always bothered me as a kid is how Jesus dying on a cross saved us from sin? I understand it is a miraculous miracle, just as the others Jesus had done in his lifetime, but why was it necessary? We just read it was to glorify god in the bible, but couldnt Jesus have done something different? And so John Piper helps me out once again, " Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, thankfully that is what the next chapter is about.