Happy New Year... No, Really

I have made John Piper’s guiding principle for life and ministry mine: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” Piper has convinced me that joy is serious business. If he is correct, I don’t have the option of not pursuing joy. God’s reputation is on the line, and I don’t want to be bad advertising for him. As one who has struggled with introspection, melancholy, and anxiety, I sure want Piper to be correct. That means God is working for me to be happy (his glory is on the line). It is important to clarify from the start that we are not talking about surface happiness. I don’t need to be told to slap on a fake smile or to run after surface happiness. It doesn’t work, it doesn’t last, people can see through it, and God is not glorified by it. What I am after is the real thing – the deep happiness that David experienced, that Paul felt, that Jesus talked about when he said, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11 ). That’s what I want, not the mudpuddles that CS Lewis talked about in The Weight of Glory: 

    “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered 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 the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” 

    But this isn’t about CS Lewis or John Piper, it is about Randy Alcorn and his book Happiness. Why am I interested in this book? Well, to be honest, it is because while I agree with Piper that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him,” sometimes I want to ask him “How?” How am I to find happiness in God? How am I to bring him glory by being satisfied in him? How? How? How? 

    That is where this book comes in. Randy Alcorn has written 45 chapters on biblical happiness. I plan on slowly reading a chapter a week in 2021. I am looking for some fellow seekers of happiness to join me. I am not claiming to be the expert; in fact I need you to join me in the journey as a fellow traveler. I have never blogged before, so be patient with me. The plan is for me to read a chapter, blog on my thoughts, include some quotes, and run hard after happiness. No, this doesn’t require giving up an evening in a small group. It doesn’t even require you to make profound comments on the blog. But I would love to have you hit that comment button to say something like “I am interested.” 

    Here are some guidelines: This is the last place to have a heated cyberspace argument (there are plenty of discernment blogs out there for that). Imagine being beat up and discouraged during a study of joy! That does not mean everything is just to be happy talk. Some people are in the middle of some pretty heavy things right now, and they will not be helped with happy talk. The assumption is that we want to help one another process the book, the verses, and the quotes so we are growing in the joy of the Lord. 

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Prayer: Lord Jesus, we will take you up on your words in John 15:11. Please meet us this year as we seek hard after the joy of the Lord. Amen