John Piper

“The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Romans 14:17 When the King reigns by his Spirit, we do right, make peace, feel joy.

“If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” Romans 14:8 Live or die. We belong to the ever-living one. Jesus.

“Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!” Psalm 68:35 Speak of him with joyful reverence. With serious joy. Every longing you ever had, from the simplest chocolate to the highest ecstasy to the strangest terror, is in him.

“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Romans 13:14 Your armor. Your identifying uniform. Inadmissible through the gates of sin.

“Save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Matthew 27:40 Ahh. Now we know what the devil was up to in the wilderness. “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Matthew 4:3 Jesus was already on the Calvary Road of self-denial. Satan was desperate to get him off.

“May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you! Oh, that the nations may be glad and sing for joy.” Psalm 67:3–4 Every church dreaming, longing, praying, preaching, advocating, agitating, planning, pressing, recruiting, equipping, sending, going, funding, watching, rejoicing, hastening the Day of God.

“Pilate said to them, ‘Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’” Matthew 27:22 This is not leadership. This is indecisive evasion. The path of justice was clear. Consultation was not conciliatory, but cowardice.

“You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.” Deuteronomy 16:19 He was wise. Then it occurred to him that he could make money with his power. And he became a fool.

“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land . . . ” Deuteronomy 12:29 The Lord cuts them off. You dispossess them. So is all faithful service of the Lord. We work because he has worked. We defeat because he has defeated. We conquer because he has conquered.

“You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.” Psalm 65:8 Whether they are crimson and remind of blood, or bright yellow like a bursting smile, they are God’s daily declarations that the arc of existence is joy.

“God fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.” Deuteronomy 8:16 God humbles us to do us good.

“He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:3 God’s appointed hunger and God’s appointed manna teach this: behind all of it is the will and the word of God, and our lives hang on that.

“You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.” Deuteronomy 7:21 If Israel among the nations, how much more of the children of God among the adversaries.

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41

“You have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.” Psalm 63:7 My Help. My Protection. My Song.

“My time (kairos) is near.” Matthew 26:18 The decisive moment of your life. It might be your death. Or the most life-shaping decision. Don’t meet it mired in triviality.

“O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?” Deuteronomy 3:24 However long you live, you have only begun to see his greatness.

“‘You have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 1:31–32 The greater the bygone grace, the greater should be our confidence in future grace.

“You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s.” Deuteronomy 1:17 But they intimidated me! That will not be an acceptable excuse. Ever.

“If riches increase, set not your heart on them.” Psalm 62:10 One way to help you obey this command is to make your life a conduit, not a cul-de-sac. And remember, copper will do.