Could You?

An excerpt from Piper's book God is the Gospel. Quoted by Francis Chan during his message at the YS Convention:

"The critical question for our generation--and for every generation--is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever say, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?"

Not The Most Important Issues

Racism, global warming, abortion, homelessness, poverty, war, crime, AIDS, etc. are NOT the most important issues in life, Here's a quote:

And they would be wrong...in thinking that those issues are the most important issues in life.

They aren’t. They are life-and-death issues. But they are not the most important, because they deal with the relief of suffering during this brief earthly life, not the relief of suffering during the eternity that follows.

Or to put it positively, they deal with how to maximize well-being now for eighty years or so, but not with how to maximize well-being in the presence of God for eighty trillion years or so.

~From John Piper's message