Pursuing God: Reflection on my Spiritual Journey (Part 1)

“Let your passion be single” by John Piper

I first listened to this sermon twenty-five years ago. I was a 22 year-old College student. My old College friend Nathan, who was completely sold out for God, gave me a Piper cassette tape that had the recording. It was this sermon that radically transformed my spiritual journey with God in three various ways:

1. The sermon reoriented my life from a human-centered existence to a God-centered (theocentric) vision about life and self-existence. God has then become my utmost treasure and the precious stone since this epoch-making moment. The central argument articulated in the message of the sermon was both intellectually compelling and emotionally sensitive to both my intellect and my heart.
2. The sermon helped me discover my deep spiritual longings for the divine—that I didn’t know was missing in my life—and the ultimate Being who can satisfy the human soul; it also helped me realize that the value of the soul is in its connection with God himself. God is the only one who makes the human soul and heart worthy of life and worthy of divine delight.
3. Finally, the sermon helped build new theological infrastructures in my life toward a much-better biblical and theological understanding of God, and the message of this sermon also provided me with rich resources and magnificent insights into the life and pleasures of God.

This sermon remains my favorite of all time.