Enjoyment As Our HIghest Aim

If you were to ask many Christians today what they thought was the greatest Christian virtue, many I believe would answer unselfishness, or at least something along these lines. This is understandable since so much of scripture speaks about self-denial and the idea of "dying to self." Many prominent Christians would cite, "The Cost of Discipleship," as one of the best Christian books of the 20th Century, a book that deals at length with this notion of "dying to self." Yet while unselfishness is certainly a biblical theme, I believe it misses the point of what I think is most necessary when understanding human nature and how man ultimately can please God.

What exactly does please God? That is the $64,000 question is it not? For those who have faith and want to live and please God in all that they do, have to be aware of a certain principle or else they really can't worship God as they should. As much as we may laud the idea that humankind needs to be more altruistic and less individualistic in their daily lives we can't escape the simple fact that all men seek happiness. As Blaise Pascal writes, "This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will will take the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of man, even of those who hang themselves."

Agreeing with Pascal's premise about the human motive, I think a better virtue for Christians to strive for in their daily lives than unselfishness would be one to seek enjoyment. This, I understand, makes one shake their head and say "how can that be?" It seems to run contrary to everything Christianity is about. Or does it? Think about a time you may have read a book that you especially enjoyed. If you had the opportunity later on to meet the author and told him how much you enjoyed his book, is there a better way that you can show your appreciation for him than that? But I understand how you still may question how seeking enjoyment is the greatest of virtues. Could this be because of the fact that too often we see people seeking enjoyment by "making mud pies" as C.S. Lewis would call it?

Man by his very nature is a worshiping creature. All over the world at this very moment man is worshiping something. It could be work, play, philosophy, sports, entertainment...the list goes on and on. And we always will worship things that give us enjoyment even if it is in the most primal of ways. This is what C.S. Lewis means when he speaks of gaining enjoyment from making mud pies. Seeking enjoyment as our highest aim is not wrong, it is as natural a law among humans as is the law of gravity in nature. Where the problem lies however, and perhaps why Christians don't place a value on enjoyment, is the fact that so many find enjoyment in the most common of things. Not that all things common are bad. I enjoy going out weekly with my friends just to hang out and have a couple of beers . There is nothing wrong with this in and of itself. By contrast though I get to see my friends once a week at church where we share in the worship of our God and know the joy that comes with being one of God's covenant people. I know what it is to be basking in the sun at an exclusive resort as well as making mud pies. But for too many people, and not just those outside the household of faith but people in the kingdom as well, life is too many days creating mud pies like a toddler at the beach.

All the unselfish acts that we long to practice as Christians to help out our family, friends, and neighbors all need to go piggy back on our first enjoying God and knowing Him. Nothing else compares to God and the beauty of His very nature. Finding other ways to please God without making it ones highest desire to live as Psalm 37:4 says..."Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart" is simply putting the cart before the horse.

In closing I'd like to make a reference to a book by John Piper that explains this subject in greater detail that I can. "Desiring God, Meditations of a Christian Hedonist" is a work that magnificently explores the idea of the Westminster Divines who penned the first question to the their shorter catechism to be, "What is the chief end of man?" The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. May we all come to learn that enjoyment is a good thing and may we find fulfilling enjoyment in knowing God.