Piper on Missions

It was 3 a.m., and the old lady that I was sharing a room with in the hospital woke me with her loud snore. Good thing when Andy and Caleb left earlier that evening, they had placed an MP3 player next to my bed. I grabbed it hoping to use it as my earplugs, and at the same time I turned it on to see what's on it.

With the snoring fading in the background, John Piper's voice came up. It was a message he had given a long long time ago at Wheaton College entitled "Doing Missions When Dying Is Gain." Typical of Piper, the message was delivered with much conviction and passion. Even with the morphine and remnants of anesthesia in my bloodstream, I was kept awake throughout the sermon though not sure how much I have retained...

In one part of the sermon, Piper mentioned how the first question pastors who were interviewing at his church would ask was "Will my kids be safe here?" I assume the church must be in a neighborhood that is not very safe. Yet Piper lives there and ministers there. He is honest in dealing with realities of life. And he sees the steadfast love of God better than life.

Here I was lying there bothered by someone's snore, and to a greater extent, I often hold physical comfort and security as something hard to let go of in life. I pray for God's mercy on me. And I pray this message will humble you as much as it did me.