John Piper is always good, but rarely so good as he is when speaking of suffering. And now he has offered this article as he deals with surgery and prostate cancer: "Don't Waste Your Cancer." His ten fantastic points are...
- You will waste your cancer if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.
- You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.
- You will waste your cancer if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.
- You will waste your cancer if you refuse to think about death.
- You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.
- You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.
- You will waste your cancer if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.
- You will waste your cancer if you grieve as those who have no hope.
- You will waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before.
- You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.
(HT:JT)
Wow! Piper is the man. What a testimony and witness to Christ.
Posted by: Jason | 02/15/2006 at 03:21 PM
place it with Piper to pronounce such poignant phrases! this is very powerful and the fact that he is going through it personally gives it that extra thrust. i think this is also very powerful for those close to cancer victims to keep close to God instead of blaming Him for hurting a loved one.
Posted by: corey thomas | 02/15/2006 at 04:21 PM
I am really glad that he is so filled with faith at a time like this. But I can't help but shudder at the idea that things like cancer are "gifts." I really don't see that idea articulated that strongly in Scripture--at all.
Posted by: Van S | 02/15/2006 at 11:26 PM
This is a good list and quite moving. However, I'm not sure why if you disagree with #1 and #2 that you'd be wasting your cancer. I think one could hold that cancer is not God's plan and intention and still hold to much of the list.
I've watched cancer kill a child slowly and very painfully. If anything, that was a curse, not a gift--and to me, pretenting that it is otherwise is to do more dishonor to God than honor. Jesus Christ came to conquer and defeat death once and for all, and to embrace a horrible instrument of that death as one of God's gifts seems to me to distort something about God.
Posted by: Keith | 02/16/2006 at 07:19 AM
I think Piper is only trying to show the faith side of this, and is trying to maximize his hold on the edge. I see what he is saying in the "severe mercy" vein ala Shelden Vanauken, with all his weight on mercy.
And the way I see it, most everyone with cancer is so overwhelmed on the "severe" side that his words can pull them in a faith direction.
Posted by: Steve McCoy | 02/16/2006 at 07:33 AM
Unfortunately, I've wasted my own suffering too many times. But FORTUNATELY, the Messiah never wasted his vicarious suffering for me. That's the one thought I added in my mind as I read Piper's great thoughts.
Posted by: dan | 02/16/2006 at 09:52 AM
'You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.'
amen.
Posted by: WES | 02/16/2006 at 10:49 AM
I see and agree with what John Piper is saying and I would add that we could modify what he is saying by inserting whatever we are experiencing in place of "cancer". Words like, wilderness, depression, etc. They are not curses on us but areas of brokenness where He is smashing the clay pot in order to build it anew. When we see others suffer, there is something there for us to learn from our Father i.e. empathy, or a call to ministering to who we empathize with, or just to see that we can have faith in the darkest moments of our lives, even when we cannot understand the whys.
Posted by: standing_firm | 02/16/2006 at 10:56 AM
Suffering is for our good, yet I find it very difficult to realize that in the midst. I don't think I have reached the point where I can look suffering square in the eye and embrace it. Reading Piper's perspective boggles my mind, but so does Job.
Posted by: Cody W | 02/16/2006 at 02:10 PM
I thought of Wayne Watson's song, "Home Free" when I read this.
"...good people underneath a sea of grief, some get up and walk away, some will find ultimate relief."
Posted by: Marcguyver | 02/16/2006 at 08:40 PM
Piper addressed Passion '06 on the topic of the glory of God in suffering back in January. What was very striking was that days later it was announced that he himself had cancer. He was addressing us, thousands of college-age students, with that in the back of his mind.
Posted by: Nick P. | 02/16/2006 at 10:01 PM
Thanks Steve for sharing that. Unfortunately the health and wealth message can cut the heart out of what Piper is so very well saying, for many.
Good stuff for us all!
Posted by: Ted Gossard | 02/17/2006 at 09:49 AM
Ben Myers has a response to Piper that puts into words what I was thinking about this article better than I was able to.
Posted by: Keith | 02/17/2006 at 07:02 PM
I can't tell you how offensive I found this article or how angry it made me. I can't imagine that anyone other than those who revere Rev. Piper would like this or even put up with this type of thinking. Doesn't anyone ever challenge this guy or confront this type of theology? I can't help but wonder how this would be received at any cancer ward at any hospital in the world or say St. Jude's Children's hospital.
I should add that my opinion is permanently colored because my dad died of cancer back in 2003. I believe that if Rev. Piper suffered like my dad did the last few months of his life that he wouldn't be thinking about how he may be wasting his cancer. He would most likely be asking God why he had to suffer like that or what he had done to deserve such punishment.
I pray that no one, including Rev. Piper ever has to suffer like that.
Posted by: FTCMNC | 02/26/2006 at 10:43 PM
I'm talking with FTCMNC through email.
Posted by: Steve McCoy | 02/27/2006 at 08:40 AM