- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Multnomah Books (April 17 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1590521196
- ISBN-13: 978-1590521199
- Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 2.8 x 21.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #40,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
There is a newer edition of this item:
|
Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"Mind-hammering and heart-warming." – Os Guiness
"A must read for every Christian and a feast for the spiritually hungry." – John MacArthur --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
"A must read for every Christian and a feast for the spiritually hungry." – John MacArthur --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
Scripture reveals that the great business of life is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. In this paradigm-shattering classic, newly revised and expanded, John Piper reveals that the debate between duty and delight doesn't truly exist: Delight is our duty. Readers will embark on a dramatically different and joyful experience of their faith
The pursuit of pleasure is not optional. It is essential.
Scripture reveals that the great business of life is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. In this paradigm-shattering work, John Piper reveals that the debate between duty and delight doesn’t truly exist: Delight is our duty. Join him as he unveils stunning, life-impacting truths you saw in the Bible but never dared to believe.
The pursuit of pleasure is not optional. It is essential.
Scripture reveals that the great business of life is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. In this paradigm-shattering work, John Piper reveals that the debate between duty and delight doesn’t truly exist: Delight is our duty. Join him as he unveils stunning, life-impacting truths you saw in the Bible but never dared to believe.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
The reason this may sound strange is that we are more accustomed to think about our duty than God's design. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
The reason this may sound strange is that we are more accustomed to think about our duty than God's design. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Most Important Book (except the Bible) I've Ever Read!,
By Brian G Hedges (South Bend, Indiana) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Paperback)
Desiring God: The Meditations of a Christian Hedonist is, hands down, the most important book (except the Bible) that I have ever read. It is a series of profoundly biblical meditations on Scripture, rooted in painstaking exegesis by a competent and well-trained New Testament scholar, illustrated from the pages of history, and validated by the changed lives of hundreds of young men and women from the past 18 years (the first edition was released in 1986). Piper's thesis is that the chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying Him forever. This is based on the conviction that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. The call to Christian Hedonism is thus a call to abandon the short-term, low-yield pleasures of the world for the magnificent joys of knowing God in whom is fullness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for ever more. Don't be misled by negative reviews about this book. Piper does not seek "to create Christians that are nothing more than self-seeking clones that ignore the Biblical concepts of humilty," nor does he attempt "to make God into some type of tool that Christians can use for their enjoyment." Rather, he claims that people have already made a god out of what they derive the most enjoyment from. If you get more joy out of golf than out of God, you are worshiping an idol. The reason God commands (yes COMMANDS) us to enjoy Him (Psalm 37:4; Psalm 100:2; and dozens of other texts) is because this brings Him praise and honor. My wife is not honored by my taking her out to dinner if it is motivated by a desire to do my duty rather than by a spontaenous affection for her that delights in her presence. She is honored when I pursue her joy because it makes me happy to see her happy. That is true Hedonism. This book is a radical call to deny yourself the fleeting pleasures of sin and to embrace the risk-taking lifestyle that has marked martyrs and missionaries across the ages. It is not a health/wealth/prosperity book, but a weighty Bible-saturated book of practical theology that is designed to produce saints who can be satisfied in God even though they suffer for the sake of Christ and the nations. I have met John Piper (though he would not remember me) and corresponded with him more than once. I've listened to dozens of sermons, have heard him in person on numerous occasions and have read almost every book he has written. He is one of the most humble men I know. He gives every penny of his book royalties away and lives a simple life, pastoring a church in downtown Minneapolis. He has no love for money and no desire for glory for himself. His life is authentic and so is his message. Read this book and learn afresh the joy of following Jesus!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Glorified and Satisfied,
By
This review is from: Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Paperback)
John Piper is not telling people to become 'hedonists' and to pursue and love pleasure as an end in itself. He is recalling people to the basic fact that when the all sufficient and sovereign God is our joy, when we see him behind all of life and we glory in his goodness and grace to us in all things, only then are we glorifying him as we ought and as he deserves - Christian hedonism.Also, contra some reviews, Piper is not discounting a theology of the cross or negating suffering for the sake of the gospel (he has focused at length in other works about these things Suffering and the Sovereignty of God Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World). Rather, Piper is calling us to a type of joy that embraces suffering and pleasure and counts it all joy. This is a call to tear down the idol of pleasure and to worship God through our enjoyment of him in all of life. Not merely a philosophical book, this is intensely practical. Like a preacher, Piper is somewhat repetitive but this serves to hammer home his main focus - that Christians are far too easily pleased (to quote Lewis). We dabble with the trivial things and the fleeting pleasures the world and the flesh have to offer and miss the great treasure that God has given us in Christ. This book is a welcome change of perspective from two errant views that see the Christian life either as a set of rules and duties or as a life of self-centered pleasure seeking and wish fulfillment with God as an unending supplier of my selfish wants. Trust God to tell you where true joy is (in him) and then go to the source in every aspect of life. Don't settle.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
hedonism as essential,
By "jaspaz79" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Paperback)
It's inconceivable to me -- even as an English teacher who believes in the life-altering power of transformation that can be transmitted by words -- that people can so often read a book that would change their lives. Ginsu knives change lives. Products of our commercial endorsement age "change lives" according to "customer testimony." It just doesn't happen with the regularity that people associate with it, and therefore, the testimonials that mention such phrases contain close-to-no power.Having said that, Piper's book approximates a miracle. It is a staunch Calvinistic view of God and the world that neither diminishes God, his work or his creation. Piper seeks to have Christians delight in God's work in us and ultimately in God's glory. Period. The transformative word here is "delight." To enjoy God. First. Foremost. I wish I could say it changed my life. Didn't. I was a sin-worker before I read this book and I'm still a sin-worker (read: not sin-slave) today. But it did open my eyes and get me salivating for heaven -- even the glimpses of heaven here on earth.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
