John Piper covers Christian Hedonism in a response to a question sent by a "Desiring God" radio listener.
"'Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.' How can I give the Lord glory by enjoying him through good?" the listener by the name of Trent asked Pastor John.
"Is it by knowing that the food for that day was provided for me by him and it's OK to enjoy it? Or another example would be happiness when our children do well in school. I'm just wondering how to be happy in the Lord in the right way to bring him the most glory. How do I do all things to glorify God?"
Pastor John started his response by clarifying what Christian Hedonism is. Christian Hedonism teaches every person to "seek with all of our might to maximize the intensity and the duration of our enjoyment of God above all things because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" according to Pastor John.
It is the primary reason for existence. If one finds more pleasure in secular things like success, money, food, music, health, or staying alive--above one's satisfaction in God--then one diminishes the glory of God.
Pastor John propounds that there are two main obstacles that Satan utilizes to distract us from the glorification of God. One is pain and the other is pleasure.
Pain can make us resentful at God when we should find it as a "golden opportunity" to glorify God by--what Pastor John describes--"showing how much more we value him than we value comfort or being free from this pain."
On the other hand, pleasure distracts us from glorifying God in which it makes us "cherish something else more than God" and makes us "forget God because we're so satisfied in the pleasures that his gifts give us."
Pastor John uncovers the secret of abundance of good things while referring to Paul, "knowing Christ so well and loving him so deeply and finding him so satisfying that good things can be received from his hand as Christ."
