Do you find true joy and true happiness in God? Do you enjoy praising God and therefore complete your joy in Him? Are you a "Christian Hedonist" as John Piper famously puts it. This was an excellent book that I had meant to read for the longest time and I am so glad that I finally made the time to do so.
Note: These "Book" blogs are more or less for myself. I find that I retain information a lot better when I write it down. But, if these bless you as well as you read it, then I am glad.
Chapter 1: Happiness of God
God is absolutely sovereign over the world, he can do anything that He pleases and He is therefore not a frustrated God but a deeply happy God, rejoicing in all His works and nothing can thwart his plan.
So the question is, what could God give to us to enjoy that would prove Him as most loving? Himself because He is of the utmost value and if he withheld Himself from us, he would not be loving.
Chapter 2: Conversion
God made us for His glory (Isaiah 43:6-7) and therefore it is the duty of every person to live for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31) which means to acknowledge His glory, to value it above all things, and to make it known. However, we have all failed to give God the glory he deserves and therefore are subject to eternal condemnation by God. But the Good News of the Gospel is that God himself has decreed a way to satisfy the demands of His justice without condemning the whole human race.
Therefore, the pursuit of joy in God is not optional. It is not an "extra" that a person might grow into after he comes to faith. It is not simply a way to "enhance" your walk with the Lord. Until your heart has hit upon this pursuit, your "faith" cannot please God and therefore you cannot be truly happy.
Chapter 3: Worship
"Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth."
Worship is a way for us to express the feelings and emotions and affections that we have for God and where feelings are dead, our worship of God is dead. For Christians, we should long for not any of God's good gifts, but for God himself. To be sure, God gives good gifts to us and we should be grateful but ultimately we want God and we express this longing for God when we worship Him.
"In the moment of authentic emotion, the calculation vanishes. We are transported (perhaps only for seconds) above the reasoning work of the mind, and we experience feeling without reference to logical or practical implications." - How I long to be so captivated in worshipping my God
Chapter 4: Love
"If love is the overflow of joy in God that gladly meets the needs of other people, and if God loves such joyful givers, then this joy in giving is a Christian duty, and the effort not to pursue is sin."
Whether it be ministry, providing needs, counseling, etc we be joyful about it. Not some fake mustered up joy but true joy knowing that our joy in God overflows in a joy to meet the needs of others out of love. If not, we are saying that we don't trust Jesus when he says it is more blessed, more joy, more lasting pleasure if we devote ourselves to helping others.
"It is an indictment of our own worldliness when we feel more exhilaration when we conquer an external mountain of granite in our own strength than when we conquer the internal mountain of pride in God's strength." - I pray God's strength would overcome mountains that only He can overcome so He gets all the glory
Chapter 5 - Scripture
"Normal Christian life is a repeated process of restoration and renewal. Our joy is not static. It fluctuates with real life. It is vulnerable to Satan's attacks...My aim in this chapter is to help you wear the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and wield it to preserve your joy in God."
"Our physical life is created and upheld by the Word of God, and our spiritual life is quickened and sustained by the Word of God."
"The more of God's Word you know and love, the more of God's Spirit you will experience."
"The first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for his inner man."
Chapter 6 - Prayer
"Just as the thirst deer kneels down to drink at the brook, so the characteristic posture of a Christian hedonist is on his knees."
"If we seek from the world the pleasures we should seek in God, we are unfaithful to our marriage vows. And, what's worse, when we go to our heavenly Husband and actually pray for the resources with which to commit adultery with the world, it is a very wicked thing. It is as though we would ask our husband for money to hire male prostitutes to provide the pleasure we don't find in him!" - Our prayers need to be less self serving and self centered to spend on our own pleasures
One of the reasons Christians do not have a significant prayer life is because we don't plan to pray. We need to set time aside for seeking God's face in prayer.
Chapter 7 - Money
"If your godliness has freed you from the desire to be rich and has helped you to be content with what you have, then your godliness is tremendously profitable."
Good test: Have you learned your attitude toward money from the Bible, or have you absorbed it from contemporary American merchandizing?
"The reason the use of your money provides a good foundation for eternal life is not that generosity earns eternal life, but that is shows where your heart is."
"Why does God bless us with abundance? SO we can have enough to live on, and then use the rest for all manner of good works that alleviate spiritual and physical misery. Enough for us; abundance for others."
"Do not desire to be rich, be content with the wartime necessities of life, set your hope fully on God, guard yourself from pride, and let your joy in God overflow in a wealth of liberality to a lost and needy world."
Chapter 8 - Marriage
"Husbands should devote the same energy and time and creativity to making their wives happy that they devote naturally to making themselves happy."
"The roles of husband and wife in marriage are not arbitrarily assigned, but are rooted in the distinctive roles of Christ and His church."
"Where a man belongs is at the bedside of his children, leading in devotion and prayer. Where a man belongs is leading his family to the house of God. Where a man belongs is up early and alone with God seeking vision and direction for his family." - I need to strive to be this man!
"Wives, seek your joy in the joy of your husband by affirming and honoring his God-ordained role as leader in your relationship. Husbands, seek your joy in the joy of your wife by accepting the responsibility to lead as Christ led the church and gave Himself for her."
Chapter 9 - Missions
People without the gospel are without hope because only the gospel can free them from their sin
"Any burden in this chapter is to kindle a desire in your heart to be part of the last chapter of the greatest story in the world."
Lottie Moon - "Surely there can be no deeper joy than that of saving souls."
Chapter 10 - Suffering
"There is joy in affliction but this joy comes because of the hope that affliction itself is helping to secure and increase."
All suffering is with Christ (comes to us as we are walking with Him by faith and is endured by His strength) and for Christ (suffering tests and proves our allegiance)
We make a personal presentation of the sacrifices of Christ when we suffer (Colossians 1:24).
"One way of rejoicing in suffering comes from fixing our minds firmly on the greatness of the reward that will come to us in the resurrection."
"Through our suffering others are seeing the worth of Christ and standing firm because of our faith in the fire."
