John Piper is a world-renowned author in the theology field. Having authored over 50 books, he is yet to receive a penny of the earnings from any of his books. Piper works with Desiring God who pays him a yearly salary, and he believes that salary is enough to support him and his wife. The second reason why he chose not to receive any of the money is to guard against the love of money. The bible is clear that it is harder for a rich man to enter the gates of Heaven, Piper is by no means poor he just does not see a need for more than he has. Therefore, the rest of the funds from the books are available for giving to others in need. He and his wife Noel have established a board of six members who work together to establish, and protect the copyrights of all of Pipers’ books, this group is responsible for taking the royalties from all the books and channeling them to other ministries around the globe. Piper considers himself more blessed to give than to receive.
From my perspective the way that John Piper handles his finances is a breath of fresh air, compared to the societal norms of todays culture. We see so many fall into the trap that comes along with wealth, and this does not exclude the Christian population. I believe that our world would look vastly different today if people would dare to give a little more than they wanted to receive.
I agree that the way John Piper handles his finances is a breath of fresh air. He is definitely a man that practices what he preaches which is what we need more of in this world. Money is not inherently a bad thing, but once it consumes you and you put it on a higher pedestal than God, that is where you run into trouble. His complete avoidance of this is a great example of “if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.”