John Piper | All is Well

Tough Words

July 1, 2011 By Shelly Durkee

Productivity–The Outworking of Love

June 2, 2011 By Shelly Durkee

I’ve been thinking a lot about productivity this week. Probably because life for me and my family is about to change. Again. Monday I start a full-time day job, a gift from God. I will maintain working on Saturdays for now, but will be home in the evenings. A good change, but still an adjustment.

So I’ve been spending odd spare moments re-evaluating (as I am prone to do) my system for productivity. I thought I’d share a few of those thoughts here.

1. Matt Perman–author of the What’s Best Next blog–tweeted an amazing thought today (referencing a book he is writing): “One of the biggest influences for my book on productivity is actually Edwards’ book on love, because productivity is the outworking of love.”

Stop and think about that for a second: Productivity is the outworking of love. So what does that look like? I’ve pondered this a bit today. I think it could envision several things-I love my crew when I am being productive and getting things done so that I can not only serve them better as a mother, but also I can maximize the time I have to spend with them. I love my God when I am productive because I am treating respectfully the gifts and responsibilities he has entrusted me with. I love my church, my school, my community and most of all, my neighbors (including my coworkers) when I am productive because my doing my job and tasks well demonstrates an awareness and care for those God places in my path.

But I think, best of all Productivity is the Outworking of Love as explained in this quote by John Piper “Aimless, unproductive Christians contradict the creative, purposeful, powerful, merciful God we love.”

That’s a huge kick.

2. Tim Challies shared a helpful post this week at his blog Challies.com titled “How I Get Things Done”. It was a helpful reminder of the GTD productivity concepts and has helped to encourage me to revise and renew my own personal productivity workflow. He also has a related post about the applications he uses. He’s a MAC user like me, so I really appreciated his insight.

Great Deals on Piper, Eareckson Tada and the ESV Bible

June 2, 2011 By Shelly Durkee

We at HelloSaver are always on the lookout for great books for our readers. This week, you can download John Piper’s “Think”(Kindle Version) for only $2.99. I’ve read this book, it’s not to be missed.

For FREE this month at ChristianAudio.com is Joni Eareckson Tada’s book “A Place of Healing”. I’ve not read this book, but it looks very good. Here’s a synopsis:

“Whether readers are enduring physical pain, financial loss, or relational grief, Joni invites them to process their suffering with her. Together, they will navigate the distance between God’s magnificent yes and heartbreaking no and find new hope for thriving in between.”

Here’s another fantastic Free Offer: Crossway Publishers and Amazon have teamed up to offer the ESV Bible as a Kindle Download for FREE. The ESV is the translation that I use for most of my scripture and school work. Here’s what the Amazon site has to say about the ESV:

“The English Standard Version (ESV) Bible is an essentially literal Bible translation that combines word-for-word precision and accuracy with literary excellence, beauty, and depth of meaning.

The ESV Bible is equipped with an enhanced navigation feature. Kindle’s index feature can be used to navigate directly to any verse. This feature is not supported on the Kindle 1 or any Kindle applications.”

On Reading Biographies

June 1, 2011 By Shelly Durkee

I love to read biographies. John Piper has an excellent post today on WHY we should read Christian Biographies. This is really great stuff.

Perhaps, Hebrews 11 is still the most compelling biblical mandate for reading Christian biography. Together with Hebrews 13:7 all those biographical lessons in faith seem like an overwhelming summons to keep finding such stories and “considering” them.

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” (Hebrews 13:7).

But Philippians 3:17, together with 1 Corinthians 11:1, add something remarkable to the motivation. Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). And then in Philippians 3:17 he takes this out three generations beyond Christ.

“Brothers, join in imitating me, and fix your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” (Philippians 3:17).

Notice the sequence:

Jesus lives the perfect life for imitation.

Paul imitates Jesus.

Others “walk according to the example they have in us.”

Finally, we fix our eyes on those who follow Paul’s example.

What makes this so remarkable is that Paul says it is spiritually wise to consider not just Jesus’ life, and not just the lives of those who follow him, but also the lives of those who follow those who follow him.

This seems to imply that the line of inspiration and imitation goes on and on.
Indeed it does. And the centuries are laden with the lives of saved sinners whose failures and triumphs of grace are meant to inspire and strengthen and guide the rest of us.
So among all the other things you do to grow in the knowledge and grace of Christ (2 Peter 3:18), follow Paul’s summons to “fix your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.”