I found Desiring God by John Piper (Multnomah, 2003), to be enlightening as I had not come across Piper’s line of thinking before. Piper uses the term Christian Hedonism to explain his beliefs. Hedonism being the pursuit of pleasure and Christian Hedonism being the pursuit of pleasure in God Himself. Piper addresses what he feels is the unscriptural belief that to expect enjoyment is to have the wrong attitude. Piper teaches that in the Bible the promise of reward is everywhere. God is never in debt to us so we cannot do things for Him in order to repay Him or to expect payment from Him. However, because God is the Rewarder of those who seek Him, He delights to bless us if we are vulnerable and willing to receive.

Piper uses much Scripture and in depth explanation to describe his beliefs. It seems like he feels it necessary to answer every objection that has ever been raised to his ideas which unfortunately leads to some of his answers becoming long and complicated. Nevertheless his overall theme that God’s purpose is that we should experience much joy in the Christian life comes through loud and clear.

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