I think that Christian Hedonism is the answer to this question: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”[1] I would recommend to everyone this book, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist because it deals directly with this issue. The solution is to seek satisfaction in God in every part of life: Intellectually, emotionally, economically, ETC. If the thing that makes us happy is Jesus, we will naturally devote all parts of our life for and to him. Head and heart will be united when we see the real joy of knowing Christ. Piper uses the example, and I think it is a biblically appropriate one, of marriage. We get to know our spouse with head knowledge because it gives us joy to do so. It should give us joy to get to know God more in this same way. I think that this idea of pure joy is what Bonhoeffer was missing in the book, the Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer made excellent points about Jesus’ call to radical discipleship; however, he left the reader with a boat and a river to navigate but no paddle. Christian Hedonism is that paddle.
[1] John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (CO Springs, CO: Multnomah Books, 2017).
