Delight

Ecstasy & Delight

/ Dennis Griffith / 2 Comments

Ecstasy and delight are essential to the believer’s soul and they promote sanctification.

We were not meant to live without spiritual exhilaration, and the Christian who goes for a long time without the experience of heart-warming will soon find himself tempted to have his emotions satisfied from earthly things and not, as he ought, from the Spirit of God. The soul is so constituted that it craves fulfillment from things outside itself and will embrace earthly joys for satisfaction when it cannot reach spiritual ones…

The believer is in spiritual danger if he allows himself to go for any length of time without tasting the love of Christ and savoring the felt comforts of a Savior’s presence. When Christ ceases to fill the heart with satisfaction, our souls will go in silent search of other lovers…

By the enjoyment of the love of Christ in the heart of a believer, we mean an experience of the “love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us” (Romans 5.5)… because the Lord has made himself accessible to us in the means of grace, it is our duty and privilege to seek this experience from Him in these means till we are made the joyful partakers of it.

– John Flavel (1630-1691)

Desiring God

/ Dennis Griffith / 5 Comments

If you are not already familiar with his work, I want to introduce you to John Piper. In particular I commend his book Desiring God. Desiring God

This book is a modern day classic. And in my mind it an almost indespensible aid to  gaining a Biblical perspective of the Glory of God.  Well, indespensible might be a bit of an overstatement.  But, it is a book I have read and re-read many, many times, always coming away with new insights and delight.

When I first read Desiring God it resonated with me like few other books ever have. I don’t want to say it shaped my thinking at that time. Rather I think it confirmed it.  I always knew there had to be away of enjoying life and honoring God.  Piper opens the door to show us how!

Piper thoroughly saturates his writing with exposition of Scripture, and brings together two aspects of life that are sadly not often enough paired together: Our Joy and God’s Glory.  By reuniting these perspectives Piper expresses far better than I could even dream of doing what what it means to live according to our primary purpose as Christians.  And because he expressed it so well, he has subsequently shaped much of how I express this important aspect of the Gospel. 

The link I provided above is to the e-book – the entire book online.  But there are also a number of other outstanding resources available at Desiring God Ministries.

I suggest reading through and thinking about at least the Introduction: How I Became a Christian Hedonist. (I know that whole concept may be shocking at first, but it will make perfect sense once you read the Intro.)  Then look over the chapter titles.

If you are hungry to grow in both your relationship with God and how a Christian lives, you won’t be disappointed.