Quotes from John Piper

The critical question for our generation—and for every generation— is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?

God created us for this: to live our lives in a way that makes him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that he really is. This is what it means to be created in the image of God.

We weren't meant to be somebody--we were meant to know Somebody

The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night.

Desire that your life count for something great! Long for your life to have eternal significance. Want this! Don't coast through life without a passion.

Reading is more important to me than eating.

He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

Death is like my car. It takes me where I want to go.

The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. At such moments we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves.

But whatever you do, find the God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated passion of your life, and find your way to say it and live for it and die for it. And you will make a difference that lasts. You will not waste your life.

Redemption is not perfection. The redeemed must realize their imperfections.

Reading and understanding the Bible involves lots and lots of interpretation. Not just in light of the world and culture around us, but in reference to other parts of the Bible.

There are many pointers in the Bible concerning the rightness, the goodness, the beauty, the justice, the preciousness of racial harmony and diversity.

God is not worn out running the galaxy. He's not taxed at all guiding every dust particle all the time.

If God's love for his children is to be measured by our health, wealth, and comfort in this life, God hated the apostle Paul.

We weren't meant to be somebody--we were meant to know Somebody

Human beings were put on the planet to depend upon their Creator and to worship their Creator at every point in every sphere of culture.

I do not elevate the time or mode of baptism to a primary doctrine.

Do all things without grumbling. Why? You have a sovereign God who is on your side, who works everything together for your good.

The more of God's Word you know and love, the more of God's Spirit you will experience.

Without the renewed mind, we will distort the Scriptures to avoid their radical commands for self-denial, and love, and purity, and supreme satisfaction in Christ alone.

Love is the overflow of joy in God that meets the needs of others.

To love God passionately is to love truth passionately.

Marriage. The roots are deep. The covenant is solid. The love is sweet. Life is hard. And God is good.