Secondhanders

Excerpt from John Piper's sermon titled, "The Author of the Greatest Letter Ever Written":

We get the phrase "secondhanders" from the character Ayn Rand in the novel Atlas Shrugged. He despised secondhanders. That is, people who have no vision and values of their own for which they live triumphantly and are always looking over their shoulder wondering, "What are they going to think about this?" And they live their whole lives secondhandedly, always trying to get into other people's good graces and be liked and stroked and praised and complimented and paid. That's a horrible way to live.

Paul says he is owned by another, bought and ruled by Christ Jesus (Romans 1:1). Christ chooses to be friends with a murderer like Paul, give life to one who has taken it. The phrase "pro-life" extends far beyond issues of abortion for me; to conduct life by pleasing others is death, but to submit everything to Jesus is freedom.