Christian Hedonism

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Today’s Bible reading is from Hebrews 13. The writer of the book invites his readers to

Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. (Hebrews 13:5 CSB)

the love of money

The writer says the key to avoiding the love of money is satisfaction in God. John Piper, in his book Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (affiliate) coined the term, Christian Hedonism and I love that idea behind that word. Piper refers to a comment from CS Lewis.

Our problem as human beings is not that our desires are too strong, but that our desires are too weak. I thought my desires were the problem. Lewis says, No, your desires aren’t the problem. The weakness of your desires [is] the problem. You are like a child fooling about in slums with your mud pies because you can’t imagine what a holiday at the sea is like. In other words, your desires for the great things that God is offering you are way too small. Your problem is not big desires, but small desires for big things. (source: DesiringGod.org)

When God created us, He created us as worshipers; we are hardwired to worship. Our original purpose was to worship God and find our meaning in Him. But our original parents chose to look elsewhere to find their meaning for life. We inherited their sin. And ever since, we have been far too easily satisfied.

Application

The writer of Hebrews reminds us to not take the bait of being satisfied with the love of money, but instead to be completely satisfied with God. He will never leave you and He will never forsake you.

Defeat the desire for money with a bigger desire for God.
Or, fight lust for money with lust for God.