Monday, January 16, 2006

christian hedonism


"Do you feel loved by God because you believe He makes much of you, or because you believe He frees you and empowers you to enjoy making much of Him? It is the difference between the modern world where all terminates on self, and the biblical world where all terminates on God."

"...This is the test of whether our craving for the love of God is a craving for the blood-bought, Spirit-wrought capacity to see and glorify God by enjoying Him forever, or whether it is a craving for Him to make us the center and give us the pleasures of esteeming ourselves. Who in the end, is the all-satisfying Treasure that we are given by the love of God: self or God?"

-John Piper (from Desiring God and Brothers, We Are Not Professionals)

I don't know if I always agree with everything Piper has to say. And he has a tendency to go on long doctrinal tangents that I don't feel are always completely relevant to the topic of the book. But, the man has such an unmistakably high view of God. It permeates every page of every book. If he does err, it is always to the side of God increasing and man decreasing...and I am okay with that. Everything he writes, everything he believes, is so God-entranced and Christ-exalting, that he is by far my favorite contemporary author. His voice is radical and much needed in today's Church.

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