Last night, I began reading Sam Storms' book "Pleasures Evermore", which is very similar to Piper's "Desiring God" (one of few books that significantly changed my life). Like Piper, Storms' premise is that if we are really looking for ultimate pleasure, we will find it in God alone. Motivating ourselves toward righteousness through guilt or self-control is not needed, and never very effective. This is the essense of Christian Hedonism - the believer's search for the most satisfying pleasures in every area of life. Psalm 16:11 says "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
CS Lewis says it this way "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 to strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered [to] 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 sea. We are far too easily pleased." (The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses)
Have we lost our hunger for truly satisfying joy and pleasure in life? Have we tried to satisfy ourselves on a diet of religion when we were given a hunger for relationship with Him? I couldn't help but ask myself how many times I've self-medicated myself on the stuff of life that truly does not bring the joy and satisfaction only He can offer (and I was created for). He alone gives us the satisfaction we are looking for, but He does not force it upon us. We need to hunger for it in the first place. Even the best of foods lacks taste to the one who is stuffed with empty calories.
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