Digital Logos Edition
John Piper challenges fellow baby boomers to forego the American dream of retirement and live out their golden years with a far greater purpose in mind. This powerful essay draws on personal experience and Scripture to provide an opportunity to obey God in a radical counter-cultural way.
They say it’s a person’s reward for all those years of labor. “Turn in your time card and trade in your IRAs. Let travel plans and golfcourse leisure lead the way.” But is retirement really the ideal? Or is it a series of poor options that ignore a greater purpose—and will kill a person more quickly than old age?
Interested in more? Check out the Crossway John Piper Collection (39 vols.).
“Finishing life to the glory of Christ means resolutely resisting the typical American dream of retirement.” (Page 6)
“Perseverance is not the means by which we get God to be for us; it is the effect of the fact that God is already for us.” (Page 15)
“The key is to keep finding in Christ our highest Treasure. This is not mainly the fight to do but the fight to delight” (Page 17)
“Finishing life to the glory of Christ means finishing life in a way that makes Christ look glorious. It means living and dying in a way that shows Christ to be the all-satisfying Treasure that he is.” (Page 5)
“If we are going to make Christ look glorious in the last years of our lives, we must be satisfied in him” (Page 19)
John Piper (1946– ) is a widely respected theologian and bestselling author who served as pastor for Preaching and Vision of Bethlehem Baptist Church for 33 years. He still serves as chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary.
Piper attended Wheaton College where he majored in literature and minored in philosophy. He completed his bachelor of divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he studied under Daniel Fuller. Piper received his doctorate in theology from the University of Munich and taught biblical studies for six years at Bethel College.
In 1994, Piper founded Desiring God Ministries, which provides Piper’s sermons, articles, and information on titles he has authored. One of his bestsellers, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist, prompted the name of the ministry.