passion 2011

Preacher and prolific writer John Piper asked a profound question Monday evening:

Do you feel more loved by God because He makes much of you or because He enables you to make much of Him?

John Piper asks students do they feel more loved when God makes much of them or when He allows them to make much of Him at the Passion 2011 conference on Monday, January 3, 2011, in Atlanta, Georgia.

The purpose of asking such a deep question to 22,000 university-age students at the Passion conference was to get at why they love God. If students respond they love God because He makes much of them, that is idolatry, said Piper. It means that they put themselves as the foundation of their joy.

Every joy has a foundation, a deeper reason why it brings joy, except one, he explained. This exception is the bottom, where there is no more underlying reason.

“Why is getting to the bottom of our joys such a big deal to me?” asked Piper.

“I believe that there are millions of people, many of them professing Christians, who are not born-again, believe God loves them, and are hell-bound,” he said bluntly. [Read more…] about John Piper at Passion 2011