You exist only because God wills that you exist. You were made by God and for God--and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end. Many people try to use God for their own self-actualization, but that is a reversal of nature and is doomed to failure.
You were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not your using him for your own purpose. The Bible says, "Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. I have read many books that suggest ways to discover the purpose of my life. All of them could be classified as "self-help" books because they approach the subject from a self-centered viewpoint.
Self-help books, even Christian ones, usually offer the same predictable steps to finding your life's purpose: Figure out what you are good at. Believe you can achieve your goals. Of course, these recommendations often lead to great success. You can usually succeed in reaching a goal if you put your mind to it. But being successful and fulfilling your life's purpose are not at all the same issue! You need more than self-help advice. The Bible says, "Self-help is no help at all.
Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.
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How, then, do you discover the purpose you were created for? You have only two options. Your first option is speculation. This is what most people choose. They conjecture, they guess, they theorize. When people say, "I've always thought life is For thousands of years, brilliant philosophers have discussed and speculated about the meaning of life. Philosophy is an important subject and has its uses, but when it comes to determining the purpose of life, even the wisest philosophers are just guessing.
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Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northeastern Illinois University, once wrote to of the best-known philosophers, scientists, writers, and intellectuals in the world, asking them, "What is the meaning of life? Some offered their best guesses, some admitted that they just made up a purpose for life, and others were honest enough to say they were clueless. In fact, a number of famous intellectuals asked Professor Moorhead to write back and tell them if he discovered the purpose of life! There is nothing as certain as silence, stillness, and I will certainly be a more "Curious Christian" as a result of reading it, and I encourage you to read it too!
When did we stop thinking and asking questions? Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it breathes life into adults who desperately need it. As Christians, curiosity often feels scary.
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It can feel like we're expressing doubt if we ask the wrong questions or too many of them. Piper explores this in his book, one I admittedly didn't think I would find the subject matter particularly interesting or relevant to my life. In that, I was wrong. The older we get, the less curious we become. The more we have learned, and the more we assume we know. But the wise people in my life have shown me that the older they get, the more that they learn they do NOT know.
The curious Christian continues to explore those things, to think about the things that remain unknown and the things they don't know they don't know. They continue to ask questions. God made us to think and wonder I enjoyed thinking and wondering with Piper in The Curious Christian. And in full disclosure, Barnabas is a good buddy of mine.
I lived a few doors down from him our freshman year at college, and this book made me think of the countless 2 and 3am conversations when we freshmen wondered about and successfully solved, of course pretty much about everything.
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This made me miss those days and helped me appreciate the way Barnabas wonders and thinks about the world in a curious and inquisitive way. It encouraged me as a fellow writer to continue to always be thinking, to be curious, to continue to ask questions and seek answers. Whether you think you're curious or not, you'll be glad you read this one. And as an added bonus, if you listen to the audio book version instead, you get Piper's own droning and sardonic voice for 6 hours. I struggled with this book. I mean that as a compliment and I hope the author--should he ever read this humble review--will take it as one.
I struggled with the book because I wrestled with the idea that curiosity is not really as important as the author makes it out to be.
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I'll admit that the skeptic in me--who is often far louder than should be allowed--kept saying "Come on Piper; you're making too much out of this. As I read I came to see curiosity as a kind of meta-skill. It's at the root of so many good and beautiful outcomes.
They are outcomes we all desire in our lives but maybe we don't know how to get them. Curiosity shows the way.
Make no mistake, this is not a self-help book. This book is deeply spiritual.
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It is about the curious Christian after all. Throughout the book, Piper points the reader again and again to a good and loving and amazing God who is the ultimate aim of our curiosity and who will satisfy and compel even the hungriest soul. In the end, I found this book accomplished exactly what it set out to; it made me curious. One person found this helpful. A quick and inspiring read to challenge Christians to be more curious. Ask questions, be interested, try new things. Seek to make your life more interesting by being more interested and curious.
I encourage you to pick this book up for yourself and then pass it on to someone you know, or don't know. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. A well-needed and well-timed elixir for my life. Concise yet thorough and a very good read. Barnabas Piper provides a road map to a more balanced life that honors and pleases God while pointing his readers toward the abundant life Christ desires for each of us.
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