So in this introduction to the concept of pursuing God and finding enjoyment in Him we have taken a look at the problem and how we try to separate the two concepts of enjoyment and religion. Then we took a look and saw how the seeking of happiness is ingrained into man’s nature, and to such an extent that we have this void that only God can fill regarding happiness. Then how our praise and worship are actually the outpouring of our happiness and enjoyment in God. Today I want to look further into introducing this concept of John Piper’s called Christian Hedonism and how it is essentially the way we live out what is says in the first section of the Westminster Catechism, “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
What It’s Not
As we will be spending weeks looking into the concept of Christian Hedonism, or finding our happiness/enjoyment in God. I figured right now it would help to take a look some at what Piper points out that it is not. First as I mentioned last time the solution to the issue of finding our happiness in God is not looking to God as a means to grant us worldly pleasures. He is not the means to an end but He is the end of our search and pursuit. God is the source of our pleasure and happiness. We are also not putting ourselves above God by seeking Him. It also does not look at joy and happiness as justification for actions, but rather sees that when we seek after God joy and happiness are the results.
Basic Definition
While we will be going further into this topic over the next couple of weeks as I take us through insights I glean from Piper’s book Desiring God. I want to leave us this week with the basic definition that Piper presents in his introduction. It is a list of five convictions in which his philosophy of Christian Hedonism is built around. First is that the longing to be happy is a common experience among all humans that is essentially good and not sinful. Then we should not try to resist this longing, rather we should intensify the desire and nourish it with the deepest and most enduring satisfaction. Third is that it is in God that we find this satisfaction; not from God but in God. Fourth this happiness reaches it consummation when it is shared with others by expressing love for them. Finally when we try to abandon this pursuit of pleasure found in God, we fail to honor and glorify God or love people. In other words the pursuit of pleasure lies at the heart of worship and virtue. Summed up it is this, “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.”
