Author: John Piper
This book is a passionate call for this generation to make their lives count for eternity.
“If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full.” —from the Introduction
The American Dream beckons people to spend their lives on trivial diversions, slipping through life caught up with seeking success, comfort, and pleasure above all else. But God designed people for far more than this.
In this best-selling book, John Piper makes a passionate plea to the next generation to avoid the dangers of a wasted life, calling us to take risks and make sacrifices that matter for eternity—with a single, soul-satisfying passion for the glory of God that seeks to make much of him in every sphere of our lives.
Table of Contents:
Preface
- My Search for a Single Passion to Live By
- Breakthrough—the Beauty of Christ, My Joy
- Boasting Only in the Cross, the Blazing Center of the Glory of God
- Magnifying Christ Through Pain and Death
- Risk Is Right—Better to Lose Your Life Than to Waste It
- The Goal of Life—Gladly Making Others Glad in God
- Living to Prove He Is More Precious Than Life
- Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5
- The Majesty of Christ in Missions and Mercy—A Plea to This Generation
- My Prayer—Let None Say in the End, “I’ve Wasted It”
General Index
Scripture Index
A Note on Resources: Desiring God Ministries

About the author:
John Piper is founder and teacher of DesiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For thirty-three years he served as pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. He is the author of more than fifty books, including the contemporary classic, Desiring God. He and his wife, Noel, have five children and twelve grandchildren.