Dangerous Duty of Delight

As mentioned yesterday, I've started a new book. It's just a small book some 91 pages. It's called "The dangerous Duty of Delight". It is written by John Piper.

In Chapter One I learned the people don't like hearing that it is our DUTY to delight in God.

So if Christian Hedonism is old-fashioned, why is it so controversial? One reason is that it insists that joy is not just a the spin-off of obedience to God, but part of obedience. It seems as though people are willing to let joy be a by-product of our relationship to God, but not an essential part of it. People are uncomfortable saying that we are duty-bound to pursue joy. (p.13)

Joy is part of our obedience to God. :) Isn't that good to hear? We don't have to worry about just enjoying God and his creation and well.....everything about him. We can just enjoy him because we enjoy him.

We can enjoy "doing good" because when we are 'doing good' we are doing it with the purview of God are we not? We, as Christians, do good to others because God wants us to. AND if we enjoy doing it, we are delighting in God.

It's like I enjoy doing the newsletter up for Church. I'm not always the greatest one at it, but it's one of my pleasures each month. And it's a way for me to tangibly serve the body of Christ here. :)

Chapter Two is entitled "Glorify God by Enjoying Him Forever".

In this chapter Piper quoted Lewis

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of rewards and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Boy that made me think.
What am I too easily settling for?
What more could I desire of God?
What more should I aim for?
What joys in the Lord am I missing?

And the thing is...I don't know. Like that child who doesn't understand what pleasures await him at a theme park...I don't know what all pleasures await me with God. I just know that God has a way of making me smile at times.

Last week when I went to visit Jim, I had forgotten a picture that Justin had made for him in the car. When I went back to get it I noticed two things. 1. my lights were on and 2. my keys were locked in the ignition. Fortunately God had planned this out. I had Jim's keys in my pocket so I was able to unlock the door, retrieve the keys and get Justin's picture. The timing of all that just made me smile and say Thanks God. :) These things I see easily. I can enjoy nature and the wonderful variety of all that God has made, but what other joys do I miss?