Increasing Pleasure in God



Sam Storms has a brief post on our motivation as believers to war against sin. In it he says:

"Countless Christians motivate themselves to obey the call of Christ with the constant reminder of the dreadful consequences of failure or the shameful humiliation of “getting caught” in sin. It is more the terrifying prospect of public exposure than the allure of heavenly joy that accounts for how they live."

"Others have embraced the truth that the only way to liberate the heart from servitude to the passing pleasure of sin is by cultivating a passion for the joy and delight of beholding the beauty of Jesus. They have discovered that what elevates the human soul and empowers it to live in the fullness of its created purpose is not religious intimidation or new rules or an anxiety induced by spiritual scoldings. It is faith in the promise that the enjoyment sin brings is fleeting and futile but at God's right hand, and in the presence of his radiant glory, are pleasures evermore."

He then quotes Jonathan Edwards as someone that historically could really articulate it. Read the whole quote here, but this is the best part: "true weanedness from the world doesn’t consist in being beat off from the world by the affliction of it, but a being drawn off by the sight of something better” 

For those of us challenged by the English language, Storms interprets. "Simply put, the only ultimate and long-lasting method for overcoming sin in the human soul is by maximizing our pleasure in God!"

Perhaps we should spend more time talking about God and his grace so that our pleasure in him might be increased versus sweating under other motivations. Good stuff.

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