Chapter 6: The Goal of Life—Gladly Making Others Glad in God

Yesterday's reading was about risk. Chapter 6 of Piper's book gives a surprising link: nobody will take costly risks to make others glad in God without a forgiving spirit. Think about it. Anyone who gives themselves away for other people will be let down, misunderstood, and sometimes wronged. If every wound turns into a grudge, the giving stops. Piper describes the forgiving spirit as one that leans toward mercy. He is careful to add that this is not a wimpy grace that cannot rebuke or discipline. Mercy and truth are friends.

Paul puts it plainly in Ephesians 4:31-32: "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." The list of things to put away reads like the stages of a grudge. It begins inside as bitterness, boils into wrath and anger, spills out loud as clamor, gets passed around as slander, and settles in as malice. Then comes the other list: kind, tenderhearted, forgiving. The measuring stick is not how the other person acted. It is "as God in Christ forgave you."

That phrase turns a duty into a gift. Piper's deepest reason to cherish forgiveness is that forgiveness gives us God himself. The biggest thing forgiveness did for us was not the cancelled debt, wonderful as that is. It was that the barrier between us and God came down, so we could actually have him. If that is what we have received, then a grudge is a strange thing to hold. It is like someone who has been handed the whole treasure and is fighting over a coin.

And this is where the chapter's title comes alive. When your joy is in God, it does not stay in a closed room. It overflows into wanting others to find the same joy in him. A person who has been forgiven much, and who has found God to be enough, can afford to give mercy away. A bitter heart is crowded with the offender. A forgiven heart has room.

A word of care here. Leaning toward mercy does not mean pretending something was fine, and it never means staying close to someone who is harming you. Forgiveness can be given from a safe distance, and boundaries and consequences can still stand. If you are carrying deep wounds from abuse or betrayal, please talk with a pastor, counselor, or trusted friend. You do not have to sort it out alone.

For most of us, though, the daily question is smaller. Which small grudges are we feeding, and are they keeping us from the joy and the generosity we were made for?