The difference between me and John Piper

John Piper is rightly one of the most influential evangelical Christian preachers and writers on the planet. I have read only a small selection of his printed material (I'm pretty sure the guy writes in his sleep) and while he can often be accused of filtering every scriptural text through the lens of "Joy", I enjoy reading Piper merely for the way he pushes me to think. And really I'm pushed to think in ways that are unnatural to me; with the end result being a richer view of God, His creation and His redemption and mercy in Jesus.

Reading one of John Piper's recent blogposts on 10 Resolutions for Mental Health I was forced to sit up and take stock of just how different I am from the man.

Piper: At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.

Cowling: At least once every day I shall look steadily up at my roof and think "I must clean that..."

Piper: Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Cowling: I shall not let the existence of Two and Half Men exclude the possibility of the universe being guided by Intelligence.

Piper: I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities.

Cowling: I must remember to do the washing up.

Piper: I shall not turn my life into a thin, straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.

Cowling: I shall not abstract abstractions or philosophically postulate on the hypothetical or else distract from abstractive thought. Otherwise what I say may end up removed from reality.

Piper: I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.

Cowling: I am just like everyone else, namely: different to John Piper.

Piper: I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.

Cowling: At least once every day I shall look at a tree and think "Hey, that's a tree." Once everyday I shall look at a flower and think "Hey, that's a flower." Once every day I shall look at a person and think "Hey, what is that person doing in that tree with the flowers and peering in my window?"

Piper: I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."

Cowling: Sometimes I shall think back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a bit to read without my glasses while trying not to squint.

Piper: I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.

Cowling: I shall follow some guy's advice about something, and remember to do that thing I once did. 

Piper: I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.

Cowling: I shall make the most of today by watching The Biggest Loser while consuming chips and Coca-Cola on my couch.

Piper: Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.

Cowling: Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption this day John Piper has probably just finished writing another book that I will only fully understand when I arrive in glory.