John Piper has recently become very influential in my growth in my relationship with God this summer. I started by watching a sermon a friend recommended to me concerning the importance living off the Word of God. There is a book he wrote a while back called Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. I haven't read the book yet, but i'm starting to watch his seminars on the subject through the website desiringgod.org - which is a website devoted to John Piper's ministries. The site is a great tool and full of wonderful resources.
This post is a summery of the first lesson of the seminar for Desiring God, and it is the summery of his philosophy of Christian Hedonism.
Christian Hedonism
1. The longing to be happy is a universal human experience and is good, not sinful.
2. We should never try to deny or resist our longing to be happy as though it were a bad impulse but instead we should seek to intensity this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction.
3. The deepest and most enduring satisfaction is found only in God. (Ps. 16:11)
4. The happiness we find in God reaches its consumation when it expands to meet the needs of others in the manifold ways of love
5. Therefore: To the extent we try to abandon the pursuit of our own pleasure we fail to honor God and love people... in other words: The pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue.
You could do a lot worse than having John as a spiritual mentor. Please let me encourage you to read Piper's Desiring God as well as Battling Unbelief. Both are excellent. God bless your search for a deeper joy in the Lord Jesus.
ReplyDeleteBrad
My dad is reading that book right now, and was just telling me all about it. I wonder if God is saying something to me...
ReplyDeleteBrad,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement. And also for your blog. I look forward to sharing in the joy that God has given you through your thoughts and encouraging blogging.
- Chris
Tali,
ReplyDeletefor sure you should read it. Text me when you start it, cuz i'm about to start it too.
I'm debating whether or not to borrow it from a friend or purchase my own copy. But if we start roughly around the same time we can compare thoughts.