“The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
I really encourage you to listen to this John Piper sermon more than once. God will reveal more to you each time.
I pray that if you’re pursuing a life of self-denial, that you will instead seek the Joy of God. He commands us to be joyous. He commands us to seek His kingdom. The rest (self-denial) will be added to us. I pray that we no longer settle for small capacities of happiness and joy, but immense magnitudes that cannot be filled anyway other than by seeking God. That this misconstrued level to which we hold happiness to, is overwhelmed by the manifestation of satisfaction in Jesus.
Chutzpah Studios 