DWYL - Chapter Six

What is the nature and aim of glad-hearted, Christian giving? It is the effort - with as much creativity and sacrifice as necessary - to give others everlasting and every-increasing joy? - joy in God. If God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him, as we argued in Chapter 2, then living for the glory of God must mean that we live to gladly make others glad in God. Our gladness and pursuit of  their gladness glorified God. And since gladness in God is the greatest and most lasting happiness, pursuing it is also love. Since the same joy in God both satisfies man and glorifies God, we never have to choose between the motive to love people or to glorify God. By gladly pursuing the gladness of others in God - even at the cost of our lives - we love them and honor God. This is the opposite of a wasted life.
~John Piper - DWYL, p102-103

This is where the rubber hits the road.  The point where something is laid out in front of you and you have a choice... a choice to agree or disagree... then a choice to change or not.

If you don't agree then there's no need for change.  If you agree but choose not to change I can't say I see any good in it.  If you agree, then to avoid any kind of hypocrisy or laziness you must then choose to change.

Chapter six is a real hinge point of the book. We have been motivated through chapters 1-5 to not have a wasted life, and here Piper outlines what the opposite of a wasted life is.  In the last chapters he will show us what we can practically do to not waste out life.

So chapter six leaves us at the point of decision.  Do I agree with the motivation, does it in fact move me to not waste my life in the way Piper outlines.  If you are motivated but don't change then you are either too lazy to do anything (which is a sin) or hypocritical because you expect others to do something you are not willing to (which is a sin).

So ask yourself the hard questions.  Do you think that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him? Are you motivated to glorify God?  Then why do you search for satisfaction elsewhere?  What has to change in your life so that you are most satisfied in God?

Because once that change happens and you act on your motivation, then the making others glad in God will be a natural by-product of you being totally satisfied in God.

You can hear the chapter six sermon here.