Quotes from John Piper

The strength of our desire is not the measure of the strength of the final pleasure.

The great end of all study--all theology--is a heart for God and a life of holiness. The great goal of all Edwards's work was the glory of God. And the greatest thing I have ever learned from Edwards, and the driving vision of this book, is that God is glorified most not merely by being known, nor by merely being dutifully obeyed, but by being enjoyed in the knowing and the obeying.

Mental health is, in great measure, the gift of self-forgetfulness. The reason is that introspection destroys what matters most to us- the authentic experience of great things outside ourselves.

True worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in thrush are the bone and marrow of biblical worship." (Desiring God, 81-82)

There is no thought in the Bible that Satan had to be paid off to let sinners be saved. What happened to Satan when Christ died was not payment, but defeat.

I have the profound sense that many people who complain of not being able to rejoice in God treat the knowledge of God as something that ought to be easy to get. They are passive. They expect spiritual things to happen to them from out of nowhere.

Therefore everything that you enjoy in Christ - as a Christian, as a person who trusts Christ - is owing to the death of Christ.

God reveals more or less of his glory in different times and settings. But it is always his glory! It is never minor. Never insignificant. Never negligible. It is always some measure of the infinite excellence. It is always worthy of seeing and knowing and loving.

After escaping from Paris and finally leaving France entirely, Calvin spent his exile in Basel, Switzerland, between 1534 and 1536. To redeem the time, "he devoted himself to the study of Hebrew." (Imagine such a thing! Would any pastor today, exiled from his church and country, and living in mortal danger, study Hebrew? What has become of the vision of ministry that such a thing seems unthinkable today?)

The Christian's holiness and happiness in God are not two separate realities. Happiness in God is the essence of holiness.

Now we see that every experience in life is designed to magnify the cross of Christ.

We depend on him for our being and for our knowing—especially our knowing of him. We are because he is. We know because he reveals. We do not originate our existence or our knowledge. He is the ultimate source and foundation of both.