When I Don't Desire God

It's one of the best Christian books I've ever read. I've folded down at least 5 pages (and I don't like to fold pages). And every page is filled with encouraging messages from God through the amazing work of John Piper. When I Don't Desire God is full of little bits of wisdom that I would like to share with you this evening. The book is about fighting for true joy in God- something that the Bible COMMANDS, but that we often forget to do. Even though in church we are cheerful, there is not often a fight for true, earnest delight in our Creator. These quotes have really been a blessing to me:

The following quote makes me wonder what I can do (or rather, what I can allow God to do) in my life to have that true love and passion for God.

"How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose...! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood, you who outshine all light, yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts, you who surpass all honor, though not in the eyes of men who see all honor in themselves...O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation." - Augustine

This is a reminder that God loves us and really wants us to find joy in Him- He does not want us to live an empty existence.

"Would it not be an encouragement to a subject, to hear his prince say to him, You will honor and please me very much, if you will go to yonder mine of gold , and dig as much gold for yourself as you can carry away? So, for God to say, Go to the ordinances, get as much grace as you can, dig out as much salvation as you can; and the more happiness you have, the more I shall count myself glorified." - Thomas Watson

"Pleasures are shafts of glory as it strikes out sensibility...But aren't thre bad, unlawful pleasures? Certainly there are. But in calling them "bad pleasures" I take it we are using a kind of shorthand. We mean "pleasures snatched by unlawful acts." It is the stealing of the apples that is bad, not the sweetness. The sweetness is still a beam from the glory...I have tried since...to make every pleasure inot a channel of adoration. I don't mean simply by giving thanks for it. Once must of course give thanks, but I meant something different...Gratitude exlaims, very properly, "How good of God to give me this." Adoration says, "What must be the quality of that Being whose far-off and momentary coruscations are like this!" One's mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun...If this is Hedonism, it is also a somewhat arduous discipline. But it is worth some labour." - C.S. Lewis

"Esteeming God less than anything is the essence of evil." - John Piper