finding joy

been encountering Jonathan Edwards quite a bit lately... first through reading Desiring God by John Piper, then this evening at the Stephen Tong expository preaching... perhaps I should read this esteemed theologian myself. Interestingly, the sermon just now was given by another Reformed preacher from Indonesia today-and it touched on the balance that Christians should have between truth and emotion.

too oft we have seen the extremes: emotional expression almost to the point of fanaticism without the anchor of truth; or the dry and empty formalism of mere concepts and creeds, true though they be.... but how do we strike a balance?

like Piper, the preacher today also quoted Jonathan Edwards freely: and the main point seems to be: real joy and right feelings come only from the knowledge and understanding of the truth (this does not mean a mere logical understanding, but a real perceving of the truth). A Christian, having access to the truth through the Word, should apprehend it with real feeling through the Spirit who enlightens us to the truth. That is to say, no less - a Christian should be the happiest person today, because he has the most profoundly satisfying Object in the universe: God. (This kind of thinking rings throughout John Piper's words.)

But how then, really, does joy come?

1. Understanding and appreciating the sovereignty of God.
2. Knowing the most terrible obstacle to everlasting and infinite joy - not poverty, not suffering, not injustice, not those hurts we get from others - but sin against God.
3. Cultivating a life of thanksgiving and counting our blessings.
4. Submission to God's truth and His will. (I think in the psalms, we can see the sheer unabashed delight in obedience to God's law. Not dutiful submission, but DELIGHT.)

guess it's not for this little 1st post to elaborate on the above points. But i think that it's really worth thinking abt. Sometimes we fall into the trap of simply doing out of duty - but recently i'm being challenged that this is simply not enough. (which is why i think Aristotle is closer to the Bible than Kant as far as moral philosophy and an understanding of human virtue goes. But more of this next time, if I ever get down to doing such a comparison.)

meanwhile, i hope i havent scared away all potential readers. :)