The Dangerous Duty of Delight by John Piper is a condensed version of his larger work, Desiring God. This book is recommended if you want to get an overview of what Piper calls “Christian hedonism” or you simply want to see how our delight in God is to be the driving force for how we live. In the brief nine chapters, Piper outlines the basis for Christian hedonism and its implications for pride, worship, marriage, money, and missions.
The main thrust of Christian hedonism is (1) it is our duty (an act of obedience) to take our joy in the Lord and (2) this is how we are to glorify the Lord – by enjoying Him forever. “Genuine affections for God are an end in themselves.” (p 58) Piper argues that some people “are wiling to let joy be a by-product of our relationship to God, but not an essential part of it.” (p 13)
Piper gives some necessary boundaries and direction to pursuing this joy:
“Let it be crystal clear: We are always talking about joy in God. Even joy in doing good is finally joy in God, because the ultimate good that we always aim at is displaying the glory of God and expanding our own joy in God to others. Any other joy would be qualitatively insufficient for the longing of our souls and quantitatively too short for our eternal need. In God alone is fullness of joy and joy forever.” (p 15)
My favorite portion was a message given by the great missionary to Africa, David Livingstone, to students at Cambridge:
“People talk of the sacrifice that I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. … Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say, rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the souls to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared to the glory which shall be revealed in and for us [Romans 8:18]. I never made a sacrifice.” (p 79)
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