I remember, as a much younger version of my current self, thinking it would be incredible to take part in a pie-eating contest. Hearing about them made me long for the opportunity to eat to my heart’s content (what young boy has not considered that a dream?). Fortunately, the occasion never presented itself. Added to that, was the time I saw one such competition on TV. My dream was cruelly shattered! First, I’m not competitive, and second, watching that crazed activity cured me from ever again wishing to participate! I’ll spare you the details of how that healing came about. Suffice it to say, there really can be too much of a good thing. The one and only exception to this is our relationship with Jesus!
Over time, we become aware of the bounding bounty of the feast God provides for us. Just when we think there’s nothing that could top what we already have, God does it again. Out of his own intimate relationship, pastor/author John Piper has come to call all believers in Jesus ‘Christian hedonists.’ He’s taken a lot of flak for this turn of phrase, but, in all fairness, he’s attempting to describe the indescribable. In full-blown amazement, he pens his profound appreciation for all that he’s discovered and is still discovering in his out-of-this-world friendship/partnership/co-mission with Jesus. He talks incessantly about desire and what it produces in him. Here’s a snippet to ponder:
“ . . . every believer, whose contentment is really from the Spirit of God, is a dissatisfied believer. And therefore, every true believer is a person who prays. Prayer is the heartfelt expression of holy dissatisfaction. The more satisfied you are with yourself the way you are and with the world the way it is, the less you will pray. But the more you desire all the fullness of God, the more you desire to know the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ, the more you desire to be strengthened with the power of the Holy Spirit according to the riches of God’s glory, the more you desire to know the hope of your calling and the riches of the glory of your inheritance, and the more you desire to be holy and pure and compassionate and kind and tenderhearted and bold and fruitful, the more you will pray and the more passionately you will pray.”
from Desiring God (1986) by John Piper
I’d love to get your feedback on the above paragraph! PD