Pursuing God as the Greatest Delight

Reading through Augustine's Confessions is a great way to see how to relate to God. The whole book is written like a prayer in the third person- it's a demonstration of how to pour out your heart to the Lord.

Below is a quote where Augustine explains that sin is neglecting the higher good (God), while giving preference to inferior delights. (Maybe C. S. Lewis was thinking of this part of the Confessions when writing The Weight of Glory).

'The life that we live here has its own peculiar attractiveness, and allure all its own, especially in its harmony with the rest of the creation. The bond of human friendship has a sweetness of its own, binding many souls together as one. Yet because of these things we value, sin is committed. We have an inordinate preference for these things of a lower order while neglecting the better and the higher good. We neglect You, Lord God- Your truth, and Your law.

While these inferior things we value have their delights, none are equal to You. For in You, O God, the righteous delight and You are the sweetness of the upright in heart.'

Pleasure and Duty

Our pleasure and our duty,
Though opposite before;
Since we have seen his beauty,
Are joined to part no more:

It is our highest pleasure,
No less than duty’s call;
To love him beyond measure,
And serve him with our all.

-John Newton

More Musings

It's been a while since I've blogged. It seems the bug left me for a while, but now I think it's back. I like to use my blog as a place where I can accurately express my thoughts and theology in words. I often have lots of different ideas floating around in my head that I feel will benefit me (and maybe others) more if I choose to write them down. Here are a few things that God has been teaching/re-affirming in me recently.

1) God loves to use weak people

Time and time again, over the last few months, I've found that my natural instinct, to depend on myself doesn't really help anyone I believe God has been bringing me to a place where He's been showing me how my own skills and abilities have failed to attain the calling that He has placed on my life. It's only when He does this that we really see, in a crystal clear way, how much we need Him every day. In the times when I've felt useless, confessing this uselessness has glorified the power of God in ways I haven't seen before. Depending on God is the opposite of pride, relying on Him contradicts the desires of the flesh, acknowledging our weakness displays His strength.

2) The pursuit of my own happiness is essential to glorify God

Credit goes to Piper for expressing this truth in Desiring God. I was on holiday in Greece when I read this book from cover-to-cover, it blew me away. When I first read that God commands my happiness (Psalm 37:4), I thought 'Really? Does He actually want me to be satisfied? Isn't this self-centred? I mean, aren't I stealing the attention away from God's glory and towards my own satisfaction?' After wrestling with questions like these individually and with friends, I'm now sure that Christan Hedonism is a God-centered principle to live by.

Some disagree with Piper's articulation of Christian Hedonism. I was talking to a Pastor the other day who rejects Christian Hedonism because, in his eyes, it seems to make man's own desires god. Christian Hedonism does not make the chief end of man the fulfillment of man's desires. Christian Hedonism answers the question: how can God be most glorified in me? To say it another way: How should I live, in order to magnify the worth of God? Both questions are individual. Both questions are looking for a way of life for man to live. How can God be most glorified in me? Christian Hedonism says: 'God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him' and 'God's worth and splendour will be most manifested in your life when you are completely overwhelmed with His goodness. Christian Hedonism doesn't make human desires a god. Christian hedonism makes the fulfillment of our Spirit-filled desires (satisfaction/ happiness) the only way to glorify God individually.

I was reminded again about this truth as I spoke about the parable of the hidden treasure (Matthew 13:44), to a group of international students. A man goes out into a field, sees the treasure, sells all he has and buys that field. Why does he buy the field? He buys the field for the sake of his happiness. 'For joy' he sells all he has. The man in the parable is not stupid like an investor who puts money into dodgy stocks. The man is in touch with reality. He looks at the worth of all he has and compares it with the worth of the treasure. The treasure out-weighs all he has. So from a heart that sincerely desires his own benefit, he buys that field. We must come to Christ for our own pleasure. The pursuit of my own joy in God massively glorifies Him!

3) Everything Christian is about Faith and Love

I preached in January on Deuteronomy 8:1 'Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers'. It was my first sermon, I loved preaching every minute of it (mp3 is available here). The sermon became an expression of most of my theology. Despite this I tried to centre the sermon around our obligations to obey God as Christians. Why should we obey God? What's in it for us? How does God motivate us to obey Him? are all questions I tried to answer in the sermon.

In preparing I was able to spend time thinking about Galatians 5:6 'In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.' Paul is making the point that anything we do (however Christian we may think it is) is absolutely worthless without faith working through love. That's powerful and shocking to the ego. What even reading a Christan book or fasting? Yup. Everything is nothing without faith and love. Faith being a continual trust in the reality that the gospel pronounces over every believers life. Love being a continual outpouring of desire fixed in the beauty of God.

Without faith and love I am sinning and my obedience is counted as nothing. 'Whatever is not of faith is sin' according to Romans 14:23. Sin is not necessarily an action that is wrong in God eyes, rather it is a God-debasing mindset that trusts in everything outside of Him.

'Without love I am nothing' is Paul's message to the Corinthians (1 Cor 13:1-3). Isn't God always pleased with martyrs? No, 'though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing' (v3). Actions that are void of faith and love are sinful and empty in God's eyes. The whole Christian life is about faith and love- it's so simple and profound! the greatest Christians are those who love the hardest and believe the most.

That's enough for tonight. More thoughts to follow.

Joy and Evangelism

'Restore to me the joy of Your salvation... Then... sinners shall be converted to You.' Psalm 51:12-13

Knowing the gospel is not enough. Evangelism doesn't work when we are satisfied with knowing the gospel. People need to see that we enjoy the gospel. They need to see that we've fallen in love with a beautiful God through the gospel. The attractiveness of Christ is the substance of our joy in God. If the world can't see that Christians are delighted with the gospel they will be forced to assume that Christ is not attractive. And if Christ is not attractive He doesn't need to be and shouldn't be worshipped.

That's why David seeks his happiness in God: 'restore to me the joy of your salvation'. Sinners are converted when Christians rejoice in salvation. Sinners see the beauty of Christ through the joy of Christ's people.

How to be content without money

To be content without money you need to find something of greater value than money; you need to pursue a greater pleasure.

'Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?''

Hebrews 13:5-6

God doesn't ask Christians to stop loving money as an end in itself. He asks Christian to stop loving money by seeking greater contentment elsewhere. He commands Christians to seek Him as the root of all meaningful contentment. When God is your satisfaction money doesn't need to be. He is better than money. He will never leave us or abandon us. He will always be our guide and rock. Money provides a temporal basis for contentment. God provdies and offers Himself to humanity as the source of all deep life, joy and contentment.

Don't Be Too Easily Pleased

'Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward 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 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.'

-C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Jesus is better than sin!

God Satisfies

'The Christian says, 'Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists.... If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly pleasures, and on the other, never to mistake them for something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage.'

-C. S. Lewis, taken from book 3 and chapter 10 of Mere Christianity

Let the Nations Be Glad!

You know if you're reading a good book when it gets you praying. You know if you're reading an even better book if it gets you praying scripture:

'Let the peoples praise You, O God;

Let all the peoples praise You.

Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!'

Psalm 67:3-4

'Let the Nations Be Glad!' by John Piper is a great read. Full of classic Piper meat constructed around a theology of missions. I'm a bit of a fan of Piper and totally agreeing with the concept of Christian Hedonism (when rightly interpreted) so this book was just my thing.

The premise behind the book? 'Missions exists because worship doesn't' (pg 17). The ultimate end of the church is not missions Piper argues but worship. We are made to glorify God by enjoying Him forever and this if considered seriously it will start a fire in our hearts for the evangilisation of the world. Our worship should fuel our missions. When you taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8) you want others to taste the same soul-satisfying sweetness.

This book of theology is meant to move us. Knowledge produces feelings which in turn produce action. It can happen in no other way. If you start learning that 'the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one' (1 John 5:19) your heart should be moved to love. Passion for God and His glory coupled with compassion for humanity motivate people to be risk-takers for the gospel. And these two motives Piper argues are one in the same thing:

'Unbelief not only dishonours God but also destroys the soul. Everything that discredits God damages man. Every assault on God's holiness is an assault on human happiness. Every thought or feeling or action that makes God look wrong or irrelevant increases man's ruin. Everything that decreases God's reputation increases man's suffering. And so missions is driven by a passion not only to restore the glory of God to its rightful place in the worshipping soul but also to rescue sinners from everlasting pain.' (pg 208-209)

The book is divided into three sections. In the first 'Making God Supreme in Missions: The Purpose, the Power, and the Price.' Piper sways the reader to see the purpose of missions to exalt God's God-centeredness to all the nations; that is God's commitment to glorify Himself for all eternity. God is righteous He loves to celebrate and magnify the ultimately valuable (Himself) above everything else: 'God's righteous passion and delight is to display and uphold His infinitely valuable glory. This is not a vague theological conjecture. It flows inevitably from dozens of biblical texts [texts like Is 48:9-11, Rom 9:17, Is 43:25, John 12:27-28, Phil 1:9,11 etc etc] that show God is relentless in pursuit of praise and honor from creation to consummation.' (pg 22)

The power of missions could only be prayer. Not just any prayer but prayer in the Spirit. Not just saying words but feeling God. Prayer needs to be expectant and persevering prayer. Prayer like the prayer of George Mueller who wrote 'I am now, in 1864, waiting upon God for certain blessings, for which I have daily besought Him for 19 years and 6 months, without one day's intermission.' (pg 69). I was convicted by this. I'm too quick to give up! We have to battle on asking, seeking and knocking because our Father loves to give good gifts (Matt 7:7-11, James 1:17).

Suffering is the worthy price of missions. 'Loss and suffering, joyfully accepted for the Kingdom of God, show the supremacy of God's worth more clearly in the world than all worship and prayer.' (pg 71) Taking up our cross is our duty and therefore joy. Being ready to die with Christ so that we fill up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions (Col 1:24) or to put it another way represent the sufferings of Christ to men, women and children who haven't seen Christ face-to- face. Piper quotes Bonhoeffer: 'The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise God-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion wit Christ. When Christ calls a man, He bids Him come and die.' (pg 74) When we are happy to adopt such an attitude Christ will be made to look wonderful. Our calling is to go outside the camp and suffer with Him (Heb 13:12-14). Suffering looks different for everyone; for one it might be cancer, for another persecution. One thing is for sure that if we are to be glorified with Him we will suffer with Him (Rom 8:17).

Part two of the book suddenly becomes more theological and analytical. Drawing on Edwards Piper explains that the consequence of offending infinite beauty equates to an endless time in Hell. Punishment for a crime increases when you the person you offend is more valuable. 'Sin against God, being a violation of infinite obligations, must be a crime infinitely heinous, and so deserving infinite punishment.' (Edwards, pg 122). What is needed to escape this wrath? Conscious faith in Christ. Piper labours to prove it must be conscious. People need to know the name of Jesus to be saved, this comes from the word of God delivered by man (Rom 10:14-15). It is the name of Jesus that needs to be named for salvation, an anonymous saviour is not a glorified saviour.

The third section of Let the Nations goes back to worship. Piper loves to remind, this is wonderful (Phil 3:1). He reminds us again that worship is the chief end of the church and pure worship needs pure motives. So what are the proper motives for missions? The glory of God and the happiness of man. Are these two not mutually exclusive? No, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. In other words 'the pleasure you take in God is the measure of the treasure you find in Him.' (pg 212)

Piper gives an interpretation of John 4:23 - the worship that the Father wants should be in Spirit and in truth. He points out that this worship principle is for everyday life, not just one day a week. We need truth, the right facts about God. And we need the Spirit, the right attitude towards God. Jesus is the new temple of God. He is the new meeting place of God and man. It is there we can behold His glory, full of grace and truth. And if this is true and we have Jesus with us until the end of the age (Matt 28:20). In the words of Luther: 'The worship of God... should be free at table, in private rooms, downstairs, upstairs, at home, abroad, in all places, by all people, at all times. Whoever tells you anything else is lying as badly as the pope and the devil himself.' (pg 222) Inward New Testament worship will manifest itself in a transformed life. Holy living is the over-spill of real worship. If you love God with your heart and mind you'll want to love Him with your tongue, arms and feet as well.

Let the Nations Be Glad is a book that gets you worshiping on the spot by saying things like 'O Lord I want to serve you' or 'O God raise up workers for the harvest field'. It's a book that will increase your view of God as more glorious than everything else and likewise your love for the extension of the gospel so that the nations can be glad as they praise the infinitely beautiful God.

Contentment in God

Below are the notes from a talk I gave this morning at Olivet English language school. Comments and criticisms are encouraged!

This morning I want to think about being content in God. Everyone wants to be content. Everyone wants satisfaction. The problem is that we naturally (because of our sin-nature) hate the most satisfying and amazing person; God. And we fall in love with everything other than God as if it were as beautiful as the real God.

Pray

Read: Hebrews 13:5-6

5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
6 So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’’

1) We can only become content in God when we see how wonderful God is
Why is God a wonderful God for humans? God is a wonderful for humans because He wants what is best for us with more passion than anything or anyone else.

So what is best for us? God is best for us.

The Bible is the message of a God who has constantly giving Himself to a people for His own glory- to make Himself look great. Ultimately this happens in Christ (1 Peter 3:18).

"I didn't understand this idea of a God who says, 'You have to acknowledge me. You have to say that I'm the best, and then I'll give you eternal happiness. If you won't, then you don't get it!' It seemed to be about ego. I can't see God operating from ego, so it made no sense to me"- Brad Pitt

Pitt’s understanding of worship isn’t right- he sees a distinction between happiness and worship. Scripture teaches that what we are happy with is what we worship.

2) Contentment in God frees people to kill the love of money
Being content in God is the God-given weapon to attack our love for money.

Verse 5 ‘Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

So the reason why we can be content and not go to money is because God is enough. We don’t need money to make us happy if we have God. He satisfies my desires. He’s my joy and my life.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.26 My flesh and my heart may fail, [money fails, wealth fails to make me content] but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:25-26
When we see God as ultimately beautiful there’s no need to find ultimate beauty in anything else.

Money isn’t needed for our satisfaction because God says I wont leave your or abandon you. He promises to be near and next to you in everything. He promises to love as a Father- a good fair Dad doesn’t leave his kids, he promises to go and prepare a place for us so that we can be with Him forever.
Why would anyone want money and reject this God?

God is better than money. This is good news for us because God is opposed to our love of money. Jesus said more about money then He did heaven and hell combined:

"One thing you lack,"... "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Mark 10:21

‘It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ Matt 19:23

‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ Luke 12:34

Wealth is dangerous because it sucks you in. Money demands worship from people. And when you worship money all you want is more money. Brighton is sucked in. If you want to be religious in this city you need love money- you need to be greedy. Money has cursed this city.

Wealth is more of a curse than a blessing.

1 Tim 6:6-10:
6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

If you want to be sure that you’re going to Hell start loving your wallet.

Love for money will kill God for us if we don’t kill it. It will consume our worship and make God look tiny and unattractive and unpleasant.

But we can kill this love or money if we enjoy the beauty of God- finding him more wonderful than life.

3) Contentment in God gives confidence in the face of man
If we are content with this God and the love of money is dieing- If we want more of God than we do money- If we want to make Him look God and not make money look good then we will have boldness.
13:6 ‘we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"
The Spirit of God has anointed us for what God has for us to do and He will empower us. He gives power so that we can be His witnesses- His witnesses:
Acts 1:8 ‘you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’
Man should be afraid when we are filled with the Spirit because no-one can God from doing what He does. No-one could stop the early church and they tried. Christian history shows that when you kill Christians, Christian’s grow- it’s strange! Normally when you kill things they become extinct- not Christians!
The apostles turned the world upside down because God they were broken people who relied on an external power. And we have the same power so there’s no reason why we can’t see the same thing happening in Brighton.

What can man do to us?
If they kill us we get closer to God.
If they don’t kill we get the opportunity of getting other people closer to God.

God is saving people because He is God and He does whatever He pleases. And usually He gets weak people who are content with Him and fills them with confidence and power to make Himself look great.

4) You can only be content in God by receiving Jesus
Jesus was absorbed loving His Father. He was the perfect example of what it is to be content in God. He was given boldness and confidence by the Spirit to win people into the Kingdom. He was the ultimate teacher on money and possessions- He was homeless and broke and at the same time more blessed than anyone else.

To become content in God you need to admit the you love to worship what God hates. You need to know that your God’s enemy; God hates your rebellion. You deserve continuous torture for offending a wonderful God. Hell isn’t the only thing God offers. He’s given us great news of hope: Jesus. He was fully God and fully content in God, fully hating the love of money, fully confident in His message.

This Jesus wants you to know His love, God wants you receive Him by admitting your sin and turning away from so that you can enjoy God and not money. Trust in Jesus He died to remove sinners by making them into worshippers.

God's Satisfies us by Loving Himself

God loves Himself supremely above all other creatures. He delights in the purity of His character. He observes and analyses every emotion and mental capacity He possesses and declares it good! God is excellent, all together lovely, more beautiful than any landscape or icon. God's reaction to Himself is worship. He worships Himself loving to demonstrate His magnificence to everyone by speaking through creation. He is clearly seen through the testimony of earth.

He is a consuming fire, burning bright with radiance and indescribable light. He is the lion from the tribe of Judah; powerful, strong, the King of all creatures. He's the lamb that was slaughtered; meek and humble. He's the lamb that wanted to be slaughtered. It was His will to redeem a people to give Himself the joy of adoration. He desired worshippers to worship with His Spirit through His truth. He was willing to look guilty in the world's eyes to purchase our innocence. His cross was horrid and bloody. It was brutal and evil to nail the Son of God to splintered wood yet at the same time it works to express the greatness of His glory. He died and suffered to make Himself look wonderful. He did it to make Himself happy. For the joy that was promised to Him He endured the cross.

What do we get from God's efforts to make Himself look wonderful? We get we've always wanted: the happiness that comes from beholding beauty!

'And he [Moses] said, 'Please show me your glory.'' Exodus 33:18

God's Love

I've just started Owen's book 'Communion with God' -it is amazing! Owen is unpacking what is to know God loves us and how to feel this love. If you're going to buy one Puritan book in the near-future buy this one!!

Here's a taste:

'The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him is not to believe that he loves you.' (Page 13)

'Consider who it is who loves us. It is the love of him who is in himself all-sufficient and who is infinitely satisfied with himself and his own glorious excellences and perfections... His only Son, by himself alone, would be sufficient to satisfy and delight that Father. But in spite of all this, the Father will love his saints also. And the Father's love is such that he does not seek his own happiness and satisfaction only, but ours also.' (Page 28)

'When the soul discovers the excellency and sweetness of Christ in the banqueting house, it is overcome and cries out to be made partaker of his fullness. The soul is 'lovesick' - overcome with the mighty power of God's love.' (Page 43)

Making Christ Look Great in Death

Advice for New Christians

The following is something I wrote in a letter to a friend. Thought it might bless others if posted here...

• Everything you do must be done with a love for God (1 Cor 13v1-7). Notice in verse 3 Paul claims that if someone is to be martyred without love it’s of zero use.
• Give yourself to memorizing the Bible. Hide the Word in your heart to deter from sin (Psalm 119v11). You need to fight Satan with scripture. Therefore try to remember 4 scriptures every week. Find a method that suits you. Make sure you remember the reference as well as the content of the verse.
• Make yourself happy in God. This means thinking about God’s beauty to motivate you to worship. You can’t glorify God without enjoying Him. Christ should be so attractive to you that everything else looks like rubbish (Phil 3v8).
• Make sure you exhort someone and someone exhorts you. Hebrews 3v13 states that we can be hardened by sin; inviting someone to point out your own sin to can prevent this.
• Speak about what Jesus has been doing for and in you with people in your Church. Look at the last part of Luke 6v45: If your heart is full of Jesus, if you love Him more than anything else you will have to speak about Him because He’s wonderful!
• Revelation 2 v1-4. This church were acting outwardly in a good way but not loving God. You can be living a good moral life and be quenching the Holy Spirit. What do you desire? If the heart does not desire God, God is not pleased. Pleasing God is being pleased with Him.
• Don’t stop seeking more of the Holy Spirit. See Eph 3v19: Paul prays this for Christians! You don’t have the fullness of the Spirit when you are first saved. Although you have the Holy Spirit you need to be constantly seeking more of the His power (Eph 5v18).

Why we have to be happy in God to glorify Him

'According to my judgment the most important point to be attended to is this: above all things see to it that your souls are happy in the Lord. Other things may press upon you, the Lord's work may even have urgent claims upon your attention, but I deliberately repeat, it is of supreme and paramount importance that you should seek above all things to have your souls truly happy in God Himself!' - George Mueller

Doesn't it sound selfish to make yourself happy in God? Surely that's just using God to make you happy? Below is the reasoning that forces me to believe (like George Mueller) this it is essential to make myself happy in God:

1) The chief purpose of the Christian Life is to glorify God. (1 Cor 10v31)

2) When sinners are born-again they receive a new heart. ( Ezekiel 36v26)

3) The heart's function is to produce desires. (Psalm 37v4b)

4) The new heart (given by God) produces spiritual desires or desires rooted in the Holy Spirit.

5) To be happy is to fulfill desires and cravings. The greatest measure of happiness happens all desires are fulfilled.

6) To be happy in God is to fulfill Spiritual desires from the new heart.

7) Holy-Spirit desires are given so that the fulfilment of them glorifies God. (God does all things for His own glory).

8) By implication of 6) and 7) we must make ourselves happy in God (fulfilling Spiritual desires) because this glorifies Him.

Three Misconceptions about Happiness:

1) I can't be 'happy in God' all the time because sorrow is a good emotion that God wants me to experience (2 Cor 7v10).

This misconception assumes that humans exert one emotion at a time. The truth is we can be happy and sorrowful simultaneously. 2 Cor 6v10: 'sorrowful yet always rejoicing'. A happiness in God can happen when we are filled with sadness.

2) Happiness is given by God sometimes and other times not. It is not to be pursued. It's to be accepted if God chooses to let me enjoy it.

If this is true why did Paul command the Philippians several times to 'Rejoice in the Lord' (Phil 4v4). Not rejoicing is a sin. Getting joy in God is commanded therefore it is our obligation and duty.

3) Pursuing your own Happiness is living by feelings and not faith.

Faith and feelings are not independent of each other. The right faith tends to produce the right feelings (Rom 15v13).

'God is glorified not only by His glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in.' -Jonathon Edwards

A Catechism of Christian Hedonism

1) What is the chief purpose of God?
To glorify God.

2) How worthy is God of glory?
God is infinitely glorious therefore is worthy of infinite glory.

3) Can God exist without preferring His glory above everything else?
God by nature has to glorify Himself in all that He does being infinitely worthy of glory.

4) How does God give Himself glory?
God gives Himself glory be enjoying Himself.

5) How is God's self-enjoyment shown?
God's self-enjoyment is shown by having supreme delight in all that He is: every person and work of the trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

6) Does God have any interest in humanity?
Yes. He wants humans to share in the enjoyment of His glory.

7) What is the chief purpose of humanity?
To glorify God.

8) How can humans glorify God?
Humans can glorify God by enjoying Him.

9) Why should humans glorify God?
Humans should glorify God because God is the only all-satisfying being.

10) Why aren't Christians more excited about the gospel?
....(Respond)

Refreshing Grace from Prayer

The more I pray the more I understand the beauty and refreshing power of prayer. It's like pouring clean fresh water to a dry school. When you focus on God and open your heart to Him you feel renewed and encouraged. I believe real prayer is a fresh filling of the Spirit because we're calling on God for what we don't have, it's a constant confession of independence. This is refreshing, it's renewing, it's the key to receiving more satisfaction than you can think of.

When I was first saved I used to look on prayer as some kind of heavy task. I imagined God standing behind me like a forceful slave-driver speaking into my life by delivering over-bearing commands. I'm really glad I was wrong! Prayer is enjoyable! There's a myth floating around some conservative churches that 'denying yourself' (Mat 16v24) means throwing away pursuit of joy. Not true. It means pursuing real joy! 'Denying yourself' happens when we see Gods glory as our ultimate treasure, better than any sin. It's seeing God as our treasure!

If God is our treasure then prayer is our joy. Prayer is our joy when we savour Gods glory above everything and anything else. Therefore real Christ-exalting, pride-crushing prayer results in cherishing God and pursuing Him as ultimate good and satisfaction.