Pretty much everyone I know loves John Piper. So I am not going to tell you about how great he his, how sound (most of) his doctrinal stances are, or how much he reminds me of Mr. Rogers.
I am going to tell you about teenage-Trina. Teenage-Trina was a people-pleasing, musical-loving, Bible-thumping, tall, skinny, crazy-haired female… who was obsessed with sex.
Yep. You heard me. SEX. There, I said it. Here I was, a good, homeschooled girl of 17 who had never been on a date in her life, thinking I was the only Christian out there reading porn in fiction form while babysitting for my neighbor’s 3 bratty kids.
I knew it was wrong. But I wasn’t exactly sure why. The fast, hot rush of excitement I got when reading those books/magazines would be drowned out so quickly by such a deep, painful guilt that I knew I had to stop. But I couldn’t.
Growing up in a ultra-conservative home, the “s-word” was worse than the most vulgar curse word that we had never heard. The ‘birds and the bees’ talk was given in two incomplete stages, and the rest I picked up on my own. From the pregnancy books hiding on the top shelf of my ever-pregnant mom’s closet. From the sneaky searches on Wikipedia from the library’s internet when I was feeling brave because no one was around. From TV sitcoms.
TV sitcoms were the worst. Why did they tell me that it was ok? These feelings were natural, good, justified? All that mattered was what FEELS good? That was the message I got, as the beautiful people on small screens made their sexual rounds with all of the main characters over seven seasons of laugh-out-loud drama.
(Just a side note, in case you were wondering, these TV sitcoms were not necessarily approved watching in our divided, conflicted, anything-but-perfect house. But more on that as my story slowly unfolds on this Blog’s pages…)
And that’s where this post actually does become about John Piper and not about ME.
One day, I found a deal online (you are going to learn this about me rather quickly – I am a SUCKER for a good deal!). John Piper, renown Christian author whom I’d never actually read, offering all of his books for $5 apiece, free shipping. That was exciting. I had heard for a while of this great renown author, and another thing you will learn about me – I am a sucker for a good book.
So I ordered 6 books and checked out his website. Cool, downloadable sermons. A word caught my eye.
SEX.
Sex and the Supremacy of Christ Part 1, and Part 2
I was surprised. Christians talked about this stuff? And not in glossed-over phrases from the pulpit when the unavoidable passages come up in verse-by-verse teaching???
I downloaded both sermons onto my little MP3 player. That day I tackled that sermon while I tackled a large pile of my family’s ironing. I cried. And cried. I finally understood what SEX was for, what it did to me when I committed adultery in my mind. What it did to my Lord.
John Piper gave me the tools I would need to fight the remainder of those rough, hormone-riding teenage years and into my early twenties (I was a late-bloomer). He changed my life.
Now I am happily married. I understand even more today what SEX is for. I understand even more how very evil adultery of any kind is. And I hope to understand sex even better when I read John Piper’s full ebook, Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, one of the many books he is offering for free download on the terrific desiringgod.org.
This post 14 Free Ebooks for You lead me to download not only those 14, but also at least another 20 under “All Books” John Piper allows you to download to your phone, Kindle, or computer for free.
Happy reading. I hope your life is changed by this man and the One he points to.
Thank you, John Piper.
