It was through John Piper's writings that I came across the word,
"hedonism". What does hedonism mean? According to the Oxford dictionary
it means-doctrine that pleasure is the only proper aim. Ok, I'm getting
to it, but when John Piper talked about Christian Hedonism, I was a bit
confused.....I have a small excerpt below adapted from Piper's article, "Christian Hedonism: Forgive the Label, but Don't Miss the Truth"...Read it.....
"What Is Christian Hedonism?
My shortest summary of Christian Hedonism is: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
We
all make a god out of what we take the most pleasure in. Christian
Hedonists want to make God their God by seeking after the greatest
pleasure—pleasure in Him.
By
Christian Hedonism, we do not mean that our happiness is the highest
good. We mean that pursuing the highest good will always result in our
greatest happiness in the end. We should pursue this happiness, and
pursue it with all our might. The desire to be happy is a proper motive
for every good deed, and if you abandon the pursuit of your own joy you cannot love man or please God.
The Difference Between Worldly and Christian Hedonism
Some
people are inclined to believe that Christians are supposed to seek
God’s will as opposed to pursuing their own pleasure. But what makes
Biblical morality different than worldly hedonism is not that Biblical
morality is disinterested and duty-driven, but that it is interested in
vastly greater and purer things. Christian Hedonism is Biblical morality
because it recognizes that obeying God is the only route to final and lasting happiness. Here are some examples of this from the Bible:
Luke
6:35 says, "Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing
in return; and your reward will be great." It is clear when Jesus says
“expect nothing in return” that we should not be motivated by worldly
aggrandizement, but we are given strength to suffer loss by the promise of a future reward.
Again,
in Luke 14:12-14: "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite
your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest
they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give a
feast, invite the poor . . . and you will be blessed, because they
cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."
That is, don't do good deeds for worldly advantage; rather, do them for spiritual, heavenly benefits."
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org
This has set me thinking alrite!
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