Think - John Piper

Piper's main point in the book is that thinking is indispensable in our pursuit of God however that thinking must be "soaked in prayer, carried by the Holy Spirit, tethered to the Bible, in pursuit of more reasons to
praise and proclaim the glories of God and in the service of love." We are encouraged to think but without the help of the Holy Spirit, we will not be able to find the knowledge of God. As we think and learn about God it fuels the fire of our love for God which then in turn fuels the fire of wanting to know God more and they both continue to fuel each other.

As we read the Bible, we need to think in order to truly "receive what God has to give us from the Bible." "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything" (2 Tim 2:7) and "Seek (understanding) like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures...for the Lord gives wisdom" (Prov 2:4-6).  Thinking and asking God for understanding is not either or but both and. We can't think and not ask for God's help in understanding and expect to truly understand and we can't not think and just expect God to reveal.

In Matthew 16:1-4, Jesus is approached by the Pharisees and he said that they can use the skies to determine the weather and they could use the same reasoning to know Christ but their hearts are hardened so that they cannot use it to "draw true inferences from what is really there." This is where we need God to change our heart so that we can see the glory of Christ in the gospel.

Piper continues on to discuss how thinking is related to loving God. Loving God is only possible when something changes inside of you so that He becomes compellingly attractive and he becomes your surpreme treasure so that you love Him. This overflows into a love for others. This "second commandment" isn't equal to loving God but is the overflow of our love for Him. Our thinking  should be "wholly engaged to do all it can to awaken and express this heartfelt fullness of treasuring God above all things."

From here he goes on to take on relativism and anti-intellectualism. Relativism (the belief that there is no set truth, everyone has their own truth) is treason against God because God has clearly revealed himself (Romans 1) but since relativists state there is no standard of truth, it commits treason against God. The fact is, even relativists aren't true relativists because if they were in a court setting on trial, they would rely on set truths about their innocence.

For anti-intellectualism, if we give up on "raising a generation of people who give up serious, faithful, coherent thinking, we will have raised a generation incapable of reading the Bible." We need to think and use human reason in order to present and see Christ clearly.

In Luke 10:21, Jesus states that God has hidden the truths of the gospel from the "wise and understanding" but revealed them to "little children." The wise and understanding are those who have human wisdom which is prideful whereas "little children" are those who are humble and submit to Christ. If we were able to find God through human reason and human thought, we would have reason to be prideful and would have reason to boast. Therefore, as Christians and "little children" the only thing that we boast in is the cross.

To wrap it up, Piper wants to "encourage serious, faithful, humble thinking that leads to the true knowledge of God, which leads to loving him, which overflows in loving others."