Favorite Quotes from Astonished by God

Below are some of my favorite quotes from the book Astonished by God by John Piper.

God Is

"The entire universe is utterly secondary.  Not primary."

"With God being the most significant reality, nothing is rightly known apart from its relationship to Him."

"'God is glorious' means God's holiness has gone public."

The God of Glory

"So we don't glorify God by improving His glory, but by seeing and savoring and showing HIs glory."

"We magnify God's glory like a telescope, not a microscope."

"Grace was not an afterthought in response to the fall of man."

"God created the world for His glory.  God did not create out of need."

Christian Hedonism

"God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him... If that is true, however, then there is no conflict between your greatest exhilaration and God's greatest glorification."

"Christ is glorified in you when He is more precious to you than all that life can give and all that death can take."

The Sovereignty of God

"The future is the counsel of God being established.  The future is the purpose of God being accomplished by God."

The Gospel of Christ

"God in Christ is the price and the prize of the gospel."

"The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast."

The Call to Global Missions

"Worship is the goal and the fuel of missions; missions exists because worship doesn't."

"Seeking the worship of the nations is fueled by the joy of our own worship.  You can't commend what you don't cherish."

"There will always be people who argue that the doctrine of predestination makes missions unnecessary.  But they are wrong.  It does not make missions unnecessary; it makes missions hopeful."

Living the Christian Life

"... living by faith in future grace."

"Mercy is not weak.  It has an unbreakable backbone, yet is very soft to the touch."

The Perseverance of the Saints

"You and I are instruments by which God preserves the faith of His children.  Perseverance is a community project."

"Marriage is temporary.  Parenting is temporary.  But the church... the new family... is eternal."

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

"A woman is a woman to the depths of her humanity.  And a man is a man to the depths of his humanity."

Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing

"What the world needs from the Church is our indomitable joy in Jesus in the midst of suffering and sorrow."

"Suffering is not outside of the will of God.  It is in God's will."

"Glorifying God means showing by your actions and attitudes that God is glorious to you... that He is valuable, precious, desirable, satisfying."