Product Description Experience the Lifelong Pleasures of Knowing God!Satisfaction…Happiness…Joy. According to John Piper, the pursuit of pleasure in God is not only permissible, it’s essential.Desiring God is a paradigm-shattering work that dramatically alters common perspectives on relating to God.  Piper reveals that there really is no need to choose between duty and delight in the Christian life. In fact, for the follower of Jesus, delight is the duty as Christ is most magnified in His people when they are most satisfied in Him.Constantly drawing on Scripture to build his case, Piper shows why pursuing maximum joy is essential to glorifying God. He discusses the implications of this for conversion, worship, love, Scripture, prayer, money, marriage, missions, and suffering.Piper beckons us to approach God with the hedonist’s abandon. Finally, we are freed to enjoy Jesus—not only as our Lord and Savior, but also as our all-surpassing, soul-satisfying Treasure.Desiring God may turn your Christian world upside down. And that will be a good thing, for the glory of God, and for your deepest joy.Includes a study guide for individual and small group use. Review "Mind hammering and heart warming." – Os Guiness"A must read for every Christian and a feast for the spiritually hungry." – John MacArthur About the Author John Piper is pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has written over forty books, including Desiring God, A Godward Life,Don’t Waste Your Life, and The Pleasures of God. John and his wife, Noel, have five children and an increasing number of grandchildren. Learn more about his ministry at DesiringGod.org. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. C h a p t e r 1The Happiness of GodFoundation for Christian HedonismThe ultimate ground of Christian Hedonism is the fact that God is uppermost in His own affections:   The chief end of God is to glorify God and enjoy Himself forever.   The reason this may sound strange is that we are more accustomed to think about our duty than God’s design. And when we do ask about God’s design, we are too prone to describe it with ourselves at the center of God’s affections. We may say, for example, that His design is to redeem the world. Or to save sinners. Or to restore creation. Or the like.   But God’s saving designs are penultimate, not ultimate. Redemption, salvation, and restoration are not God’s ultimate goal. These He performs for the sake of something greater: namely, the enjoyment He has in glorifying Himself. The bedrock foundation of Christian Hedonism is not God’s allegiance to us, but to Himself.   If God were not infinitely devoted to the preservation, display, and enjoyment of His own glory, we could have no hope of finding happiness in Him. But if He does in fact employ all His sovereign power and infinite wisdom to maximize the enjoyment of His own glory, then we have a foundation on which to stand and rejoice.   I know this is perplexing at first glance. So I will try to take it apart a piece at a time, and then put it back together at the end of the chapter.GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY:THE FOUNDATION OF HIS HAPPINESS AND OURS“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3). The implication of this text is that God has the right and power to do whatever makes Him happy. That is what it means to say that God is sovereign. Think about it for a moment: If God is sovereign and can do anything He pleases, then none of His purposes can be frustrated.   The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates   the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the   plans of his heart to all generations. (Psalm 33:10–11)   And if none of His purposes can be frustrated, then He must be the happiest of all beings. This infinite, divine happiness is the fountain from which the Christian Hedonist drinks and longs to drink more deeply.   Can you imagine what