Book Review: The Dawning of Indestructible Joy

The Dawning of Indestructible Joy. John Piper. 2013. 94 pages. [Source: Bought]

The Dawning of Indestructible Joy by John Piper is an Advent themed devotional book well worth reading. If you've not read John Piper in the past, this would be an excellent introduction to his work, his theology. Piper loves to teach on joy, and, this devotional book is about INDESTRUCTIBLE JOY that is ours in Christ.

Each days' reading is drawn from Scripture. There are readings for December 1 through December 25.
The readings are relatively short but definitely rich in truth. So for not many minutes each day, you get a lot of food for thought.

Here are six little "gems" from the book:

Don’t leave Christmas in the abstract. Your sin. Your conflict with the Devil. Your victory. He came for this. (December 5)

Christmas is the reassertion of the foundation of all truth and goodness and beauty, because Christmas means: God is truthful. God’s truthfulness is the constant in a universe of flux. God’s truthfulness is the unwavering absolute. If we forsake God’s truthfulness, the anchor is up, the rudder is loose, the keel is broken, and the ship of life (political life, social life, educational life, scientific life, family life) is simply at the mercy of the wind of human wishes. Say to the next generation again and again: God is truthful; God keeps his word; God does not lie; God can be trusted! That’s one blessing of Advent. Receive it as a wonderful Christmas gift, and give it to as many people as you can. (December 8)

Thus says the Lord: the meaning of Christmas is that what is good and precious in your life need never be lost, and what is evil and undesirable in your life can be changed. The fears that the few good things that make you happy are slipping through your fingers, and the frustrations that the bad things you hate about yourself or your situation can’t be changed—these fears and these frustrations are what Christmas came to destroy. It is God’s message of hope this Advent that what is good need never be lost and what is bad can be changed. The Devil works to take the good and bring the bad. And Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil. (December 10)

Our God does not need our service, nor is he glorified by recruits who want to help him out. Our God is so full and so self-sufficient and so overflowing in power and life and joy that he glorifies himself by serving us. He does this by taking on humanity and seeking us out and then telling us that he did not come to get our service, but to be our servant. Here is a general truth to ponder and believe: every time Jesus commands something for us to do, it is his way of telling us how he wants to serve us. Let me say it another way: the path of obedience is the place where Christ meets us as our servant to carry our burdens and give us his power. When you become a Christian—a disciple of Jesus—you do not become his helper. He becomes your helper. You do not become his benefactor. He becomes your benefactor. You do not become his servant. He becomes your servant. Jesus does not need your help; he commands your obedience and offers his help. Christmas. He came to serve, not to be served. He came to help us do everything he calls us to do. (December 17)

Let all your frustrations with this world throw you onto the Word of God. It will become sweet—like walking into paradise. (December 18)

Christmas means: the infinitely self-sufficient God has come not to be assisted but to be enjoyed. (December 19)

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible