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Desiring God: Introduction | John Piper · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. This is the deep dive where we
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take a stack of sources and get right to the core of what
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they're saying. And today we are wading into a
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topic that for a lot of people might sound, well, it might
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sound a little off, spiritually speaking.
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Yeah, especially if you come from a tradition that's all
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about piety and self sacrifice. The topic is Christian Hedonism.
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It's absolutely a provocative term.
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And let's be honest, that word hedonism does most of the heavy
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lifting when it comes to, you know, the initial
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misunderstanding, right? So our goal today is to look at
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the sources, and we're primarily drawing from John Piper's book
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Desiring God. We want to understand the actual
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theological claim being made. We want to see how the pursuit
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of your own personal satisfaction gets recast.
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It's not some selfish sideline right, but a moral God ordained
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thing you have to do. And the tension is obvious from
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the get go, isn't it? Oh.
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Completely. We're so often taught that
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spiritual means choosing duty over delight.
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You sacrifice yourself interest to honor God.
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You're supposed to make yourself smaller for His sake.
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But these sources, they propose something just fundamentally
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different. They argue for a vision where
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there's no conflict between those two things.
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It's all captured in this one declarative statement, which is
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really the thesis for the whole philosophy.
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God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
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And that statement, if you accept it, doesn't just adjust
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your theology a little bit, It kind of flips a whole engine of
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Christian practice around. It does.
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If your greatest duty is served by your greatest joy, that
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changes everything. It changes your worship, your
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ministry, your whole view of morality.
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Precisely. If that's true, then our
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spiritual effort has to focus on how to increase our delight in
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God, not how to crush it. So what's our road map for
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today? How are we going to unpack this
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well? We're going to show why this
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isn't some modern invention, but actually a return to some very
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deep historical roots. We'll dissect the the
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grammatical change that really defines the whole doctrine.
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Then we'll look at how classical Reformed thought kind of paved
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the way for this command to pursue happiness.
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After that, we'll analyze why joy is a divine command, and
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then finally see how pursuing the satisfaction in God is the
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only real way to conquer sin all.
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Right, let's jump right in. Then let's start with that
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central assertion. For centuries, the Westminster
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Shorter Catechism has been the summary Man's chief end is to
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glorify God and enjoy him forever.
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That's bedrock for our tradition.
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It's the traditional beloved formulation, no question.
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The sources though, they propose a really subtle but a
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revolutionary grammatical change.
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OK, what is it? They propose that the chief end
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should be understood this way. The chief end of man is to
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glorify God by enjoying Him forever.
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So we're just talking about replacing a conjunction and with
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the preposition by that sounds like we're splitting hairs, but
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you're saying it creates a massive shift.
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It does because and suggests 2 separate activities.
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Maybe they're sequential, maybe they're just equal.
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You could call it the ham and eggs model.
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You do your duty, that's the ham, and then you get your joy,
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that's the eggs. They're separate dishes on the
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plate. I see.
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But the revised thesis using by argues they are fundamentally
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one thing. Enjoying God isn't the separate
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reward for glorifying Him, it is the method of glorifying Him.
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The satisfaction is the engine, not the exhaust.
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So we're moving from two different activities to a single
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unified action, one act that fulfills both purposes at the
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same time. How does that practically unite
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God's passion for glory and our passion for satisfaction?
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Well, the sources explain this unity as happening in the act of
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worship itself, specifically Christ exulting worship.
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When we worship God, what are we doing?
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We are seeking satisfaction. We're seeking the deepest
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possible satisfaction. And when we find it in Him
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alone, that very act of finding joy in Him shows his infinite
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worth. We're basically testifying that
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God is the most satisfying person in the universe, and
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that's the honor he desires. So this resolves that apparent
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competition between what God wants and what we want.
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The relationship isn't antagonistic at all, it's
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reciprocal. Exactly.
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It gets rid of the idea that God demands we just, you know,
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martyr our own happiness for his benefit.
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If you boil it down, the exchange is this.
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We get the happiness in Him. He gets the honor from us.
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Man honors God through the vigorous pursuit of satisfaction
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in Him. I think we need to stay here for
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a second. Let's think about what duty
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looks like without this engine. So let's say I perform some
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active service, charity, whatever.
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But I do it grudgingly, just out of sheer willpower and a sense
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of I have to do this. If you do that act grudgingly,
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you might technically fulfill the duty to the person you're
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serving. You give them the money, or you
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do the task. OK, But in that act you are not
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glorifying God yet. In fact, you might actually be
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dishonouring Him. Why?
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How? Because you're grudging service
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demonstrates, it's sort of advertises that God is not
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enough to satisfy you even while you're doing your duty.
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Yeah, it suggests the loss of your time or your money.
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Money is a greater loss than the game you find in reflecting
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God's generosity. So the lack of inner delight
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becomes a kind of spiritual slander.
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It is but when we find God to be the source of our most lasting
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satisfaction, when we are happy to perform a duty because we are
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happy in the God who commanded it, we're naturally showing Him
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to be surpassingly valuable. We're advertising his worth to
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the world. Yes, and that act of
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advertising, that demonstration that God is better than
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everything else, is the glorification he's after.
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The duty is the container, you could say, but the joy is the
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content that actually gives God honor.
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That completely reframes what we think of as selflessness.
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True selflessness isn't crushing all your desires.
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It's desiring the highest possible good, which is God, and
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then letting that delight overflow into service.
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And that has to lead to a certain intensity.
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If the enjoyment is the means of glorification, then Christians
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should be the most enthusiastic, most intense pleasure seekers in
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the whole world, right? Provided, of course, that the
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pleasure is anchored securely and singularly, and God Himself.
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OK, so that brings up the immediate counter argument.
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You hear this especially from people who grew up in traditions
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that really stress self denial. They'll say that this whole
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Christian hedonism thing is a modern distortion.
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They'll say it twists the classic Reformed catechisms,
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which were all about duty and doctrine, not happiness.
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But the sources. They mount a pretty robust
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defense by looking at the structure of the Heidelberg
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Catechism itself. And this is a really crucial
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defense. When people accuse this idea of
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distorting the catechisms, they often just overlook the starting
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gun of the Heidelberg, which is rooted entirely in human
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well-being and the need for assurance.
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That's a good point. The Westminster Shorter
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Catechism starts with duty and vocation, man's chief end.
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But the Heidelberg Catechism? It starts with personal crisis
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and comfort. Precisely.
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The Heidelberg begins by addressing the question of just
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existing in times of trial. Question 1 asks what is your
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only comfort in life and death? It immediately centers the
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entire theological system on the individual's need for peace.
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And question 2 takes it even further.
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It does. It asks what you have to know to
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live and die happily. The German word is silicly.
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Right, that word is siliclich. Can we give that a bit more
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context? Because in English translations
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you sometimes see it as blessedly.
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But the sources say the original German really carries the weight
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of happiness, of well-being. In 16th century Germans,
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siliclich certainly meant blessed, but in the context of
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the Reformation, it cured this huge weight of experiencing,
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saving, comfort and true lasting well-being.
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It's the opposite of eternal misery.
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So the whole catechism is framed to answer this basic human
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concern. How do I achieve a state of
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lasting happiness and assurance, especially when I'm facing
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death? It's telling the person
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listening your happiness is our starting point.
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Yes, that's a big deal for a historical document.
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This document written in 1563, it doesn't start with abstract
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systematic theology. It starts with your desperate
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need for comfort and happiness. And the answer to question 2
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then lays out the three things you need to know, which becomes
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the structure for the whole document.
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And that whole system is presented as the answer to the
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question how can I be truly happy?
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The three parts just follow logically from that.
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Let's just detail those three parts again, but let's look at
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them through this lens of pursuing happiness.
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OK, so first you have to recognize your misery, your sin.
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And this is necessary because you can't appreciate the cure if
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you don't understand how bad the disease is.
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A happy person is only cured when they know what they're
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cured of. Makes sense?
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Second, how you're redeemed from all that sin and misery through
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Christ. This is the source of the
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comfort, the pathway to true silicate.
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And 3rd, how to live thankfully for that redemption.
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And this thankfulness, which includes doing good works, is
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essentially the joyful life lived out of that redemption.
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It's so easy to get bogged down in the substance of those three
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things, Sin, redemption, thankfulness, and completely
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miss the framework. The framework itself confirms
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that this quest for well-being is the engine driving the whole
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theological instruction. Absolutely.
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The Catechism doesn't critique the desire for happiness.
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It critiques the object of our desire.
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It redirects that innate human yearning away from fleeting
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things on earth and points it toward Christ as the only
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secure, everlasting comfort. So this proves that the core
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concern of Christian hedonism, this quest for satisfaction,
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isn't some foreign idea. It's intrinsic to the historic
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Reformed theological method. The roots are deep.
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And that historical continuity is so valuable because it
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protects the concept from the accusation that it's just
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another self help program dressed up in religious
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language. This isn't about feeling good
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about yourself, it's about finding the good that satisfies
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the soul. And the fact that a confession
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from over 450 years ago frames its entire instruction around
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how to live and die happily validates the idea that we are
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meant to be pleasure seekers as long as our aim is true.
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OK, so we've established that enjoying God is the way we
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glorify him. Now we have to confront the
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really radical idea here that seeking the satisfaction isn't
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just a nice option. It's a moral duty.
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It's a spiritual task commanded by the Creator.
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Yes, and the sources argue that if you try to separate joy from
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duty, you fail it both. You can't truly honor God or
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love people if you try to operate without this engine of,
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well, self interested spiritual delight.
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So where's the biblical mandate for this?
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I mean, it sounds like the most counterintuitive command in the
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Christian life. The primary citation is Psalm
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37.4, Delight yourself in the Lord, and this is presented not
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as a suggestion you know you might want to try this, but as
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an active instruction. God has appointed this specific
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way, the act of delight, as the method for humans to give Him
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honor and define their own well-being.
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But I feel a challenge coming up here.
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When we talk about duty and command, we immediately think of
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things we must do, often reluctantly.
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Sure, how can you command an emotion?
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Joy is usually seen as spontaneous, something you can't
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control. Isn't commanding someone to be
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joyful almost psychologically cruel, especially if they're
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facing real crushing suffering? That is a critical tension, and
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the sources face it head on by redefining what we mean by joy.
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This isn't about a superficial, fleeting happiness that depends
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on your circumstances. It's a profound, settled
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satisfaction in God's character and his sovereignty.
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So in the Bible commands joy. It's commanding us to pursue and
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cultivate the kind of knowledge and meditation that produces
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joy, knowing that the object of that pursuit, God, is internally
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worthy of it. And the sources connect this
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right to Jonathan Edwards, who helps solidify why joy isn't
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just an accessory to worship, but its core element.
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Yes, Edwards made a crucial distinction about what
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glorification actually is. He argued that God has glorified
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not only by his glory being seen, you know, by an
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intellectual understanding or a dutiful knowledge of it like a.
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Fact you learn. Right, but by His glory being
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rejoiced in. If a person sees God's goodness
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but just remains indifferent, God is only partially honored.
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But if they see His goodness in their heart is seized by the
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spontaneous delight, then God has honored to the fullest.
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The joy is the required response to the reality of His glory.
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So when we see God's glory and we rejoice in it, we are
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confirming that his glory isn't just true, but that it's
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supremely desirable. Exactly.
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The delight is the required proof of God's value.
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Think about it, If you look at something infinitely valuable
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and your heart feels nothing, you are basically testifying
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that The thing is in fact not infinitely valuable.
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Therefore, joy is not just a nice feeling, it's an essential
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component of honest worship. This redefined spiritual
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disinterest or apathy is the highest form of insult.
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It does. The sources argue that to not
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enjoy God is to dishonor him completely.
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It's to commit sacrilege. Sacrilege.
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Think of it this way. Sacrilege is the violation of
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something sacred. If God is the sacred supreme
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object of the universe, and you claim that something else, your
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possessions, your comfort, some worldly pleasure, satisfies your
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soul more than he does, you are committing a spiritual
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violation. You're claiming God is inferior
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to the things he made. That analogy helps.
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It's like telling your spouse, look, I fulfill all my marriage
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of duties. I take out the trash, I pay the
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bills, but I find spending time with the neighbor far more
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satisfying. The dutiful act is just
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completely undermined by the absence of affection or delight.
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The analogy holds perfectly. If you approach God out of mere
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grudging duty, you're essentially insulting the
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infinite worth of the one you were supposedly honoring.
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OK, let's pivot to the practical duties that this joy is supposed
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to sustain. The sources stress that this
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spiritual delight isn't just for quiet time and contemplation.
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It's the strength for the hardest parts of life and death.
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The phrase the joy of the Lord is your strength from Nehemiah
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8.10 is critical here As a believer faces spiritual battles
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or just the natural weakening of the body with age, they can't
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rely on their own natural strength or good circumstances.
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They have to draw strength from a wellspring of spiritual
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satisfaction. That internalized joy in God
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becomes the psychological and spiritual energy they need for
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endurance. And this command for
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cheerfulness it extends to specific acts of virtue that we
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might naturally find just draining.
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Absolutely think about acts of mercy.
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Romans 12.8 says that the one who contributes or gives aid
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must do it with cheerfulness. If you give money or time to
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someone in need, but you do it with a heavy sigh and a
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resentful spirit, your lack of cheerfulness actually diminishes
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the gift itself. Why is that?
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Because you're implying that the money or the resource you gave
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up was a better source of joy than the act of selfless giving,
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which is supposed to reflect the joyful generosity of God.
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And the same principle applies to suffering loss.
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Yes, Hebrews 10.34 says believers joyfully accepted the
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plundering of their property. I mean, how can anyone joyfully
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suffer loss? I don't know.
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Only if the loss of their worldly goods is completely
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overshadowed by the supreme satisfaction they find in the
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security and treasure they possess in God.
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The external circumstance is terrible, but the internal
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condition is 1 of contentment in the object that can't be taken
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away from them. So joy isn't a reward you get
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after you do the virtuous thing. It's a necessary condition of
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the virtue itself. It demonstrates the truth of the
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sacrifice. It's the proof, and this applies
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even to leadership. The sources site first Peter
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5.2, where pastors must tend the flock willingly and eagerly, and
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Hebrews 13.17, which asks the congregation to make sure their
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leaders can keep watch over their souls with joy.
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If the shepherd sees his task as a tedious burden, the flock
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suffers and God is dishonored. The command is clear.
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Delight must fuel every part of Christian living and service.
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We have to move on to what feels like a philosophical correction.
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When people hear Christian hedonism, they often equate it
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with being selfish. But the sources bring in this
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key insight from CS Lewis that just flips conventional morality
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on its head. Lewis is the hints here, for
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sure. Conventional morality, whether
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it's religious or secular, usually assumes the problem with
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humanities, that we're too selfish, our desires for our own
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good are too strong, right? And Lewis just rejects this.
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He says our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too
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weak. That statement is completely
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counterintuitive. If our desires aren't too
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strong, then what's the flaw? What's the problem with the
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human condition? The flaw is in the weakness of
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the desire and the inadequacy of the object.
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People are, as Lewis puts it, far too easily pleased.
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We are finite creatures who are designed for infinite
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satisfaction, but we settle for these temporary low yield
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worldly pleasures. He used that image of the
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ignorant child, right? The child who would rather keep
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making mud pies in a slum than go away on a holiday to the sea.
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The mud pies of appetite. That's the tragedy.
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We settle for something tiny and fleeting because we lack the
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imagination or the passion to long for the infinite feast
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that's on offer. So the goal of this theology
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isn't to suppress our longing for happiness.
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That longing is God-given. It's to intensely cultivate that
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longing and direct it toward the only object that can actually
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satisfy. It and the search has to be
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oriented in God Himself. We need to be really clear here.
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God is the end of the search, not the means to an end.
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So if I'm pursuing God mainly so that he'll give me a better job
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or cure my illness, am I doing Christian hedonism correctly?
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No, that would be pursuing the mud pies and just using God as
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the shovel. In genuine Christian hedonism,
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God himself is the supreme treasure you're seeking.
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We want his presence, his character, his fellowship,
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because he is the deepest and most lasting source of
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happiness. The.
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External blessings are secondary.
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They have to be. If the external blessings
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vanish, the internal satisfaction in God must be
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enough. This brings in that observation
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from Pascal about the restlessness of the human heart.
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Yeah, Pascal, the 17th century mathematician and philosopher,
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he saw this universal longing for happiness.
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He called it the law of the human heart, that every single
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action, even suicide, is performed with happiness as the
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goal. And then he said that humanity
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has this infinite abyss inside them, a vacuum.
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They can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object,
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that is to say, only by God himself.
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The moment we try to fill that infinite need with a finite
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object, a career, a relationship addiction, we fail, and that
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cycle of restlessness just continues.
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So redirecting our hunger for happiness toward God is the only
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rational response to being human.
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Anything less is just irrational spiritual starvation.
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It's the only way to get congruence between the desire
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and the object. And when we managed to redirect
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this intensified longing toward God, the process itself
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naturally overflows into the expression of praise.
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And that connects us right back to Lewis's argument about praise
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completing enjoyment. So how does praise function as
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the the appointed consummation of enjoyment?
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Lewis notices that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into
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praise. You know, think about how
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naturally a music lover praises a Symphony, or a hiker praises a
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beautiful view. They don't praise out of duty.
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They praise because the enjoyment feels incomplete until
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it's expressed. The act of expressing the
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satisfaction makes the satisfaction whole.
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It consummates it. Therefore, worship that's
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motivated by joy isn't selfish, because the praise is the
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necessary, honest expression of satisfaction in the supremely
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valuable reality. If we truly enjoy God, we must
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praise Him. Which means that if our worship
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lacks joy, it's not just poor worship.
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It's a confession that we haven't truly enjoyed the thing
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we claim to value. It's an announcement of
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dissatisfaction and this superior satisfaction.
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It isn't just for our emotional fulfillment.
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It's the ultimate strategy for spiritual warfare.
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It's the mechanism for breaking the power of temptation.
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How does gaining the satisfaction translate into a
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concrete victory over sin? The key to broking the allure of
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sin is finding something better. Sin offers short term, low yield
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pleasures. Long term triumph over sin
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doesn't come from sheer willpower, from gritting your
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teeth against temptation. It comes from gaining A genuine
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distaste for worldly seductions because you have a superior
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satisfaction in God. If God is a deeper feast, the
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temptation starts to taste like ash.
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Exactly. When the joy of the Lord is our
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strength, we're armed against the assaults of our spiritual
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enemies. We are, in effect, putting our
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mouths out of taste for the low grade destructive pleasures that
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the tempter uses as bait. The Christian fights sin not
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primarily by moral effort, but by maximizing spiritual
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pleasure. OK, this theology, it often
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sounds like a beautiful paradox, this unity of joy and suffering,
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and the sources really bring this down to earth by
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highlighting historical and biblical figures who actually
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live this reality. This shows it's not just some
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abstract theory. Right.
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The sources identify several key witnesses.
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The primary witness is Jesus himself.
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He voluntarily entered into the ultimate act of suffering the
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cross for the joy that was set before him.
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That's from Hebrews 12.2 and. What was that joy?
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It was the pleasure of accomplishing redemption and
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returning to the Father. So even in his deepest agony,
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his motivation was a kind of self interested delight in
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fulfilling God's plan. And then there's the Apostle
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Paul, who just constantly modeled this paradoxical
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existence. All summarizes perfectly.
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In 2nd Corinthians 6 he describes himself as sorrowful
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yet always rejoicing. His external circumstances,
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shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonment, physical hardship
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or a source of legitimate sorrow.
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Of course, yet his inner condition was anchored in the
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all sufficient God, which resulted in a constant non
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contingent joy. Sorrow and joy coexisted because
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his ultimate satisfaction was untouchable by his external
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misery. And what about the more
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practical witnesses, the people who gave up worldly comforts for
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the sake of mission work? Those are the ones who model the
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ultimate validation of this the missionaries and those who have
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left everything for Jesus. Their conviction often expressed
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the end of a very difficult life, is I never made a
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sacrifice. They calculated the cost and
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concluded that the fellowship with Christ and the treasure of
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His presence infinitely exceeded whatever they gave up.
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Their life is the living proof that God is a better source of
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satisfaction than any earthly possession or security.
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The sources also detail how the author, John Piper, found this
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truth to be personally sustaining over 25 years from
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the book's first publication in 1986, and that period included
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some significant personal and cultural trials.
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And that personal validation is key to the message's
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credibility. The author noted that his body
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aged from 40 to 65 and his marriage advanced 25 years.
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That's a period that included navigating the very real
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difficulties of midlife, a time when he and his wife saw
22:50
counseling. So the core message that
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satisfaction in God sustains us had to be tested in the furnace
22:56
of personal aging and relationship struggles.
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The theology had to work when the natural joy and ease of
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youth had faded. And culturally, that 25 year
23:05
span was marked by massive dislocation.
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You have the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of the
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Internet, smartphones, and of course, global terrorism with
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9/11. Why did the message stay
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compelling through all those shifts?
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Because the deep, unchanging spiritual realities have
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remained constant, the message's relevance holds up.
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Because God is still gloriously all satisfying, the human heart
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is still a factory of desires, and sin is still powerfully and
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suicidally appealing. It doesn't matter what
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technology we're using or what the political landscape looks
23:34
like. Right.
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The fundamental battle is always spiritual assumption.
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Where will we drink? Where will we feast?
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That battle never changed from the mud pies of the 1980s to the
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digital mud pies of the 2000s. If anything, it became more
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intense. Absolutely.
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The siren song of the Internet and endless digital connectivity
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offers fleeting, shallow satisfaction.
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It just amplifies the need for a superior object of satisfaction.
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The message to feast on God became even more urgent as our
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attention spans shortened and distractions multiplied.
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It offered an anchor to an unchanging infinite reality in a
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world of accelerating novelty and anxiety.
24:10
And the message also proved its credibility globally after 911,
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when the world was gripped by fear.
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That period actually led to a significant theological addition
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to the book. It did.
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The sources note the addition of a chapter on suffering.
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This was vital because of theology that promises joy has
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to account for genuine crushing suffering on a global and
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personal scale. It can't be a Pollyanna ish
24:31
view. No, it had to affirm the
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biblical reality that God appoints suffering for his
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children. This wasn't a claim that
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Christian hedonism stop suffering.
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It was a demonstration that it provides the necessary spiritual
24:45
strength in the suffering. It proved its merit by showing
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how believers could truly be sorrowful yet always rejoicing.
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The truth had to sustain the loss of life and the threat of
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war, not just minor inconveniences.
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And as physical strength inevitably fades with age, the
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focus returns to Nehemiah. The joy of the Lord is your
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strength. It is the ultimate test.
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It links this modern articulation all the way back to
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the Puritans like Richard Baxter, who prayed that loving
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God and delighting in Him might be the work of our lives.
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When delighting in God is viewed as the work, the actual job
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description. Even as your natural energy
25:20
decreases, you possess the necessary inner spiritual
25:23
strength from ministry and endurance right up until death.
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The longevity and the personal testing of the message really
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confirm it's essential truth. The pursuit of superior
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satisfaction in God is the key to life, to strength, and to
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Christian virtue. So this deep dive into Christian
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hedonism has been a necessary look at the structure of our
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motivation. We started with this radical
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premise that the chief duty of man isn't to glorify God and
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enjoy him, but to glorify God by enjoying him.
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And we've established that the pursuit of joy in God isn't a
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selfish distraction, it's a moral duty and the necessary
25:58
engine of worship. The problem lies not in the
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strength of our desire for happiness, but in its weakness
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as we settle for those temporary low yield mud pies of appetite
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when an infinite feast is available.
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This whole philosophy calls us to intensify our innate longing
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for happiness and to direct that powerful God-given hunger only
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toward the supreme object, God himself.
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That act of maximal satisfaction in God is the greatest honor we
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can give him, and it's the ultimate weapon against the
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empty promises of sin. And that leaves us with a final
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thought for you to carry into your week.
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If we acknowledge that seeking true happiness is a necessary
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component of all genuine worship and all virtue, consider a
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specific act of service or a ministry in your life that you
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currently perform out of a sense of difficult obligation or just
26:43
duty. How could that obligation be
26:45
reoriented this week to become instead an act of profound,
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sincere satisfaction in God? How can you turn that grudging
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compliance into a joyful expression of finding your
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supreme treasure?