Highly Recommended for Any Believer Facing or Preparing for a Terminal Illness
God-centered Pastor-Theologian wrote this booklet on the evening when he had prostate-cancer surgery. I think his high view of God’s sovereignty and goodness is essential for anyone facing a terminal illness whether cancer or something else. In reality this booklet is excellent for all people to read and reflect on because as the writer to Hebrews says, “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment (9:27).”
Dr. Piper elaborates on the following eleven principles with supporting Scriptures, and the compassion of a man who knows what it is like to look death in the face, and be able to kiss it – knowing that a loving God is in control of all things for His glory, and our ultimate good:
1) “We waste our cancer if we don’t hear in our own groanings the hope-filled labor pains of a fallen world.
2) We waste our cancer if we do not believe it is designed for us by God.
3) We waste our cancer if we believe it is a curse and not a gift.
4) We waste our cancer if we seek comfort from our odds rather than from God.
5) We waste our cancer if we refuse to think about death.
6) We waste our cancer if we think that ‘beating’ cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.
7) We waste our cancer if we spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.
8) We waste our cancer if we let it drive us into solitude instead of deepen our relationships with manifest affection.
9) We waste our cancer if we grieve as those who have no hope.
10) We waste our cancer if we treat sin as casually as before.
11) We waste our cancer if we fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.”
I highly recommend this little booklet for any Christian in preparation for suffering for a terminal illness; in the midst of a terminal illness; or to give away to someone who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. If you want God-centered and Biblical guidance in the midst of your suffering – look no further than Piper’s primer.
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