Chapter 1: Why I Wrote This Book (Pt 1)

Honestly, we're reading this book because we don't desire God like we should, and we don't feel good about it.

We're convinced God is the object most to be desired because He is infinitely desirable, but in my most honest moments, I don't think about Him that way, I don't feel about Him that way and I don't act that way towards Him. I join my name to the list of those who do not desire "God with the passion he demands" (13).

This gets worse because God the Most Desirable does not leave the finding of joy in Him as an option I can take or leave. "Rejoice in the Lord always" is a command!

But between me and my full satisfaction in God stands my indwelling sin "by making other things look more desirable" and "by making me think I am pursuing joy in God, when, in fact, I am in love with his gifts" (14).

As a result, I agree with Piper that in light of this almost insurmountable struggle a "manageable, duty-driven, decision-oriented, willpower Christianity now seem[s] easy, and real Christianity ha[s] become impossible" (14).

Sadly, if I'm honest with myself I want knowledge and status and comfort and security more than God. And, I not only feel like I don't have a desire for God, but I feel like I don't have the power to give it to myself.

This is a very real reality for me. One I recognize and struggle with, and desperately want changed. That's why I'm looking so forward to reading this book. Piper says he wrote it "to be of help to believers and unbelievers who are seeing some of the radical heart-changes demanded by the Bible in the Christian life--especially that we must desire God more than anything" (15).

Thankfully, this struggle is "almost insurmountable," and it's almost because we serve a God for whom "all things are possible" (Mark 10:27). In this reality is my only hope. Heart transformation is God's sovereign, gracious work, and one that I remember saying "Pray all night if you don't have it."