Pursuing Joy

Ok. So I wanted to write this post about this quote.. but as I wrote them out I decided to preface my thoughts first. Cuz, some people reading this know me, others think they know me. And what I write semi reflects who I am in that digital front sort of way. But if I just wrote these quotes down, I think you'd get the wrong idea about me. So... if you're reading this: Hey =) I'm glad you care enough about me to come here. And if we don't talk much, I wish we did! And I'm not perfect. I accepted Christ when I got to college, and it changed the way I thought and the way I acted. There is often a temptation if people are not careful to start looking at others as a project... in a "someone to convert" sort of way. I hope that I have never treated you in that way, and hope that you are never treated that way by anyone. Cuz that's not what it's about. It's about Love, and loving you where you are, even if you never see God and Jesus the way I see them. And I will openly admit that I am not "a good Christian." In fact I'm terrible at it. But, somehow, through the grace of the God I know to be true, that's okay. I want to please God, but very often fall short of that. SO! I just wanted to tell you that because I don't want you to read all my "godly" quotes and thoughts with this skewed idea of where I'm coming from. Like I know what I'm doing haha! Life is hard. I'm just trying to get by one day at a time. And I hope that you can appreciate what I'm learning as I do that.



So the quotes I read... *ahem*



"...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

"We have settled for a home, a family, a few friends, a job, a television, a microwave oven, an occasional night out, a yearly vacation, and perhaps a new laptop. We have accustomed ourselves to such meager, short-lived pleasures that our capacity for joy has shriveled. And so our worship has shriveled. Many can scarcely imagine what is meant by "a holiday at the sea"-- worshiping the living God!"
- John Piper


I am reading this book called Desiring God by Johnny Piper. It's pretty much all about how life is in fact about being happy and living for the pursuit of joy. In fact the subtitle is Meditations of a Christian Hedonist.

he·do·nism

 noun \ˈhē-də-ˌni-zəm\

: the belief that pleasure or happiness is the most important goal in life

— he·do·nist  noun

— he·do·nis·tic  adjective

— he·do·nis·ti·cal·ly  adverb

Confession: I'm preeetty sure that I've been a hedonist for quite some time. I mean if we are honest aren't we all? Who doesn't want to have fun and enjoy life and what you do?! Isn't that why we make the decisions we do? To enjoy or get pleasure out of it?

The thing is, when I became a Christian, I thought it was all about giving up what was "wrong," and denying the things that I once found fun. Although it is true, that we are called to live set apart lives, there was this shift... like... "you're being selfish if you want to have fun and enjoy life. you're being selfish if you want to serve or be on the worship team or do anything if it's because YOU enjoy it." Like God wanted more from me. That he wanted me to be always working towards His goal, which was not always fun and easy.

The thing is, Piper suggests that self denial isn't the way to be. In fact we SHOULD be pursuing pleasure! But the truth of the matter is, that God IS the greatest pleasure we could ever have. And that finding pleasure in Him is what is most glorifying to Him.

"The chief end of man is to glorify God

by

enjoying Him forever."

How cool is that?!

<3