At the age of 24 (1999) I wandered into a bookstore in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee looking for a book I could afford. I found one on the closeout sale rack. It was Desiring God by John Piper. And it was like $2.99. I bought it. I read it. And it changed my Christian life. The essential message of that book was this: “God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him.” God’s glory and my joy are not at odds with each other. Most importantly, when I see and savor the infinite beauty and excellence of God I will find more joy than I would find in a million other strategies the world employs to find true and lasting joy.
That message was the missing link in my Christian life. I knew I was supposed to love God, serve God, and be committed to the priorities of God. But it was hard for me not to pursue my highest joy in more tangible, visible, and easily attainable things like human relationships, athletic achievements, and self-exaltation.
From that revolutionary moment in my life I have held a deep and profound respect for John Piper. Why shouldn’t I? He is the man who showed me from the Scriptures how truly awesome God is and how it would be a huge mistake to invest my life in anything other than God’s glory. He shepherded my heart better than leader ever had up to that point.
Well, the same thing happened a few weeks ago when I attended one of Piper’s breakout sessions at the CROSS conference. He was giving an inspiring message on the great ambassador of Christ, William Tyndale. I may write about that message next week, but now I want to tell you about how Piper shepherded my heart again.
Dr. Piper confessed that he is a very slow reader. Very slow! For quite a while he complained to God. He murmured. He grumbled. And he tried every trick in the book to read faster. But nothing worked. As a college professor who needed to read lots of books and articles just to stay up-to-speed, he felt like a huge failure. But one day the Lord used the words of the Apostle Paul to teach him a very valuable lesson. Paul said, “I boast in my weaknesses so that Jesus Christ can be exalted through them.” The key principle that the Lord wanted to teach John Piper is the same one he wants to teach us: God’s strength is perfected in our weaknesses.
Well, the Lord ultimately gave Piper contentment in reading slow by giving him this resolve: ‘Don’t try to read lots of books. Instead, read paragraphs! Read paragraphs over and over. Understand what they mean. Squeeze them until they bleed. And then tell people what God has taught you.’ And that’s exactly what Piper has been doing for over thirty years. And I am only one of millions of Christians who have benefited from Piper’s willingness to allow God to use his weakness to glorify God and produce joy in others.
The questions we need to ask are this, “What are my weaknesses? How can God use my weaknesses to produce His strength? How can I redeem my weaknesses to advance the Gospel and magnify the worth of Jesus Christ?” We all have weaknesses. We all have areas of frustration about ourselves. But what if each of us exercised enough faith in God to do a mighty work for His kingdom through the areas of our lives that seem so useless? Wouldn’t it be just like God to do this? He did it in the Apostle Paul. He is doing it in John Piper. Why not us?
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9