 
### ALIVE

### (How to Enjoy Living)

by

### Ryan Peter

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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PUBLISHED BY:

Ryan Peter on Smashwords

ALIVE

(How to Enjoy Living)

Copyright 2011 by Ryan Peter

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

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Important

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version Living Translation, Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Front cover photo by Josef Faustbeck - http://www.smooth2.com

Cover design by Ryan Peter

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Be Alive

Chapter 2: Grace

Chapter 3: Why I Support Hedonism

Chapter 4: New Tastebuds

Chapter 5: Joy Everywhere

Chapter 6: Love

Chapter 7: Simple Living

Chapter 8: Riding Waves

Chapter 9: No Man is an Island

Chapter 10: The Book of Joy

Chapter 11: Weak Desires

References and Credits

About Ryan Peter

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Chapter 1: Be Alive

The purpose of this book is to present an outrageous, extraordinary and radical way of living. In fact, its purpose is to talk about truly _living_ – feeling alive and being alive.

After all, life should consist of being full of joy.

I think we almost feel this instinctively. We know something is not all that right with us, with the world, and we often aren't sure what it is.

Most of us don't feel as if we're truly _alive_ but feel more as if we're just surviving, and that's about it. The world is about survival of the fittest, and all that, and we've got to make this life _work_.

Motivational books and speakers may only help us for a time, but after they're done real life kicks in again. Our high ends. And we need another pick-me-upper. So we buy another book, go to another conference, visit another website, go on another holiday, have another child, embark on a new project, or do whatever it is that gave us the boost we got last time.

Not that any of that stuff is actually bad. Of course it isn't. But like there are certain nutrients our bodies need every day so that everything is working properly, there is something deeper that we need for our souls that all this stuff doesn't really give us. It can help us, of course, but we can't rely on these things to be our everything.

We struggle to live in the moment because the moment seems so mundane and boring. We dream of adventure but never quite get there. We look at others and think they've gotten to where we've gotten and we get jealous.

Some of us start taking a realistic look at ourselves and begin to believe we're failures. Others of us ignore our inability to really enjoy life and just get on with it, thinking this is all there is. Still others decide that they're going to ignore all of reality and live in their own world instead. All of these can go to extremes that are hurtful for us and others.

But there is another way. A way that leads to life and living, where every mundane moment takes new meaning, purpose, and brings with it joy.

What is this 'secret' to living? That's what this book, in a very short while, will attempt to cover.

This book won't try and skim the surface but will try and scratch deeper. Many of us don't want to go deeper – it's a little too dirty down there, a little too personal. But there's really no other way. Gangrene requires a surgeon's knife to cut it away before it spreads. So we need to cut away the disease of joyless living at its root before it spreads and starts affecting our futures, our bodies, and those we love.

This isn't a motivational book or something that will encourage you to go skydiving or surfing, although we should do things that are fun as life isn't always about being serious and sombre. It's cool to get deep but it's also cool to be lighthearted. We have to keep the balance right.

This is about finding a life of joy and contentment and peace - and fun. It's not some inch deep hedonistic pleasure-pursuing message about throwing caution to the wind, it's about finding true _depth_ in enjoying life.

In reality I will raise the banner for a _type_ of hedonism, a type of pursuit of pleasure – but it's not the kind of hedonism you're probably thinking when you read that word.

I've purposely tried to make this book short and easy to read. That's not because life isn't complex, but only because there actually isn't an answer to everything. The sooner we come to grips with the 'I don't know' about life the better we can actually just get on with it and enjoy it. Life can also be simple if we want it, and I think that most of us would like it to be much more simpler.

We shouldn't try and approach life as if it's a kind of machine that just needs formulas punched in it in order to work. Our society is obsessed with answers, so much so that it even tries to put God in a box and manipulate God to do things for us if we do 'good things' in our life. The system of Karma tells us that we have to offset enough good deeds against our bad deeds in life to come up tops. Whether we know it or not, or call it something else, we follow that system almost blindly.

Even those who don't believe in God approach life in this kind of way. As long as we do the formulas right then life should work. If life doesn't work it must be someone else's fault or some circumstance's fault. Or, maybe it's just because we're failures and will never amount to anything.

In the West, we live in a therepeutic culture as well. Psychology really has taken over and presented itself as the saviour of the world's problems. If we understood why we behave the way we do, we believe we can tweak our behaviour and make life work at last.

The issue is there is some truth to it all. Of course by changing our behaviour we can change our circumstances. And if we change our circumstances we can live happier. I agree. But this doesn't always work. There are a trillion things out of our control, and the core thinking that joy is found by just changing our circumstances is flawed.

It's not our circumstances that need to change, primarily, _it's us that need to change_. And it's not just our behaviour or our habits that we need to change, _it's our thinking that needs to change_. And our thinking won't change, for the good at least, until our _heart changes_. And the trouble is, if we're honest, our hearts are stubborn things. They won't change. So we come up with philosophies to accommodate it and ease our conscience at the same time.

I realise that this is perhaps a fairly simple commentary on modern day society. But there is no space here to go into details. I mention it to simply show that many of us are stuck in a rut and need to break through from the above kinds of thinking. Also, my last point is important – it's primarily our _hearts_ that need to change, and how the heck do we do that?

My philosophy, simply put, is hedonism – but a unique kind of hedonism. To get to that we first need to set the background and talk about Karma, Kantian philosophy, and Humanism and how I feel these types of philosophies dominate our thinking. Their domination of our society prevents us from breaking free and truly enjoying life.

Karma

In an interview with Michka Assayas, Bono, the lead singer of the band U2, talks about how Karma is at the center of all religions. What he means when he talks about Karma is the idea of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, or that every action is met by an equal or opposite action (a reality of physics). Bono believes that Karma is at the very heart of the universe, but this idea of Grace comes in and makes a mess of the idea of what you sow you will reap. Love and Grace defy reason and logic and interrupt the consequences of actions. The idea and reality of Grace moves him because he says he has done a lot of stupid things in his life.1

Many people are spending their entire lives trying to rectify their past mistakes. They feel guilty about their mistakes and when these mistakes finally start catching up to them, whether their conscience is now becoming too much of a pain or their lives are falling apart, they begin to frantically look for a way out.

But Karma offers no way out.

I'm not a psychologist so you may feel I'm not qualified to say this, but I think guilt drives a lot of people in this world. I'm also a person with experiences and issues, and I can say first-hand that guilt has had a big part to play in driving me.

I'm also quite familiar with the heavy burden of Karma: the endless effort to shake off my past mistakes and start afresh. Regardless of whether one is religious or not, this idea prevails. It so often feels that once the machine has started it can't be stopped. I can try this, or that, but if I've pushed things in a certain trajectory it takes an incredible amount of effort to get them moving in a new trajectory – and I may never succeed. Indeed, from experience, I haven't succeeded in many areas of my life. And time is ticking and I don't have much time left.

This idea doesn't just refer to moral deeds but to life mistakes as well. I've made plenty of mistakes in my life that haven't helped to set me up on a path that I want to be. Indeed, they've been disastrous.

For example, I spent eight years of my life in a job I hated, all through my twenties. Effectively, under Karma, I can feel as if I wasted such a huge part of my youth doing nothing that really helped me for the future. I didn't set myself up financially or set up a decent career. I got stuck in an endless rut and after eight years have nothing much to show for it. I quit eventually – a brilliant decision. But I'm still playing catch-up and I may never catch-up those years. Karma says to me they are gone forever.

Or, it may say to me that the only way I can try again is really to try again – be born into another life, without taking any of the lessons of my previous life with me. But there's no need to get into all of that here.

Our society has a way of bringing down the guilt of living so unwisely onto my shoulders almost every day. Sure, I didn't live wildly, I just didn't set myself up very well, if at all. And if the philosophy of Karma is to be believed, those years are wasted years.

But Grace says to me those years aren't wasted years, and I'll show how in the next chapter. For now, let me just say that the idea of karma pervades our society in such a big way. Even if you don't believe in a deity you'll find you still live it out. Regardless of your religion or spiritual beliefs, you'll find the system is there. Perhaps you don't apply it to your morality but you certainly apply it to your career or relationships, and most definitely your spirituality.

Under Karma mistakes can be overwhelming. They will always haunt us. Regardless of how we try to redeem ourselves those mistakes have sent us on a path that we can never change. Taken to its logical conclusion, living under Karma is a burden too heavy to carry and only the fittest and those with the strongest wills can bear it. For the rest of us we're doomed. We had our chance and we blew it. So we either try and ignore it or we live under its burden. Either way, our lives start to pass us by.

But there is a different way to live.

Kantian philosophy

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher who lived from 1724 to 1804, during the Enlightenment period that had so much effect on the Western world.

Kant wrote many philosophical works which normal people such as myself don't really understand. I have his well-known work "A Critique of Practical Reason" and I can't really get past page five.

However, what I do know about Kant is that he had a wide-ranging influence over moral philosophy. One could summarise his moral philosophy by saying this: That an act is only truly moral if one gains nothing from it.

This is different to Karma in that Kantianism doesn't try and produce a solution to what we do if we make a bad moral decision. What it does try and do is measure the worth of a moral decision and separate good decisions from evil ones.

The idea that an act is only truly moral if one gains nothing from it sounds pretty noble, doesn't it? Some might even say that it sounds decidedly _Christian_ , given our background in the West. But it's not.

The word "Stoic" has come to mean, these days, "Someone who is seemingly indifferent to emotions".2 While people who hold to the actual philosophy of Stoicism might object to this seemingly thin definition, we'll more or less stick to this idea when discussing this.

Kantianism ignores an obvious fact about human nature. We're not designed to be indifferent to our emotions and feelings. But yet we've had this idea drummed into us from many corners of religion and even secularism. Stiff upper lip and all that. You need to show your strength, show that you can't be walked over. It's everywhere.Life is not designed to be a pleasureless and dry existance. Our emotions and feelings are there as a part of our lives. Without them life often makes no sense.

I don't advocate letting our emotions get the better of us when it comes to depression and drama. No one likes drama queens and I don't even think drama queens are really enjoying themselves! But the problem with Kantian philosophy is it basically has us believe that seeking for our own happiness is a moral no-no. For many of us, we've lived under this kind of 'Puritan code'3 for a long time and have tried to break free.

The trouble is, we often think the best way to break free is swing to an opposite extreme.

But there is another way to live.

Humanism

Humanism is the grand Holy Cow of modern Western society and is very influential in other societies too. For this reason I've left it last.

It's also a word that can mean a great deal so I'll need to narrow down my definition here to show what I mean when I talk about it.

Humanism is very often the extreme people swing to when they shake off Kantianism from their lives. Under Humanism, human reason becomes the new measuring stick for morality and everything else. Life becomes nothing more than maths, if we follow the logic to its conclusion.

This measuring stick has a remarkable ability to change depending on a number of reasons. If I'm seeking my own happiness above all then it makes no sense to stay in a marriage if I'm not happy there. In the past, perhaps I really believed that an affair was morally wrong, but if my wife is treating me badly, not giving me sex, or too busy with her job I now have a means of justifying an affair. If reason is my measuring stick for morality then, under 'reasonable' circumstances, an affair is not morally wrong.

Humanism is a way of ignoring Karma in the moral department. But Karma will still be very prevalent in many other areas of our lives.

Humanism can make us live only for the next kick. We can begin to live only for the next experience, the next relationship, the next promotion, the next project, or the next material item we can buy. It's survival of the fittest here – those with the most money win in the end because they are the ones that can buy themselves the next experience, the next material item, and even the next relationship. So we need to work hard, real hard, to get there.

This is the rat race.

Money can't buy love but it can often really help! If I have enough money my life can be comfortable enough to ensure that I can give my wife / girlfriend enough stuff and experiences to keep her happy. So that will keep my relationship happy. Sorted. The idea boils into many other areas of our lives.

You may feel I'm making a big philosophical jump here when explaining Humanism, but bear with me awhile. My core point here is that the endless pursuit of happiness through experiences, relationships, or stuff puts a burden on our lives that actually prevents us from being truly happy. This is because we can never be content. In our quest for contentment we miss it, because there really isn't ever a way we can have enough.

We can also never work hard enough to achieve our dreams. There is always more work to be done.

Humanism has done this by elevating human reason above all else. It makes perfect logical sense that more money equals more happiness. But the reality is that it doesn't. It makes perfect sense that if one relationship isn't working then another relationship is needed. But this isn't always the case. It makes perfect sense that if a certain kind of morality is preventing me from doing what I want to do then I ought to ditch that morality, alter it a bit, make it work for me; because it makes perfect sense that unless I get to do what I want to do I won't be happy.

Under Humanism we can never experience the true joy of making others happy because the world ends only at our nose. It's about us and us alone. Even if we don't think we're selfish people that doesn't mean we aren't. Humanism prevents us from looking outside of our little box and our little world into the wide world of others and life surrounding us. We can't see ourselves properly and we can't see others at all. It's a deeply narrow way to live.

And the longer we live under it the more we become blind to the beauty and glory of this life. Under Humanism life can lose its energy and mystery because it can become nothing more than a maths sum. Despite how much we fill our stomachs we find we become bored. And boredom is a huge problem with Western society right now.

But there is a better way.

What we become

These three philosophies – Karma, Kantianism, and Humanism – form us into different kind of people.

If we are all about Karma we may become deeply religious or incredibly fearful about everything we do and have done. Karma will never set us free.

If we are all about Kantianism we may become fundamentally religious and not only make our lives a misery but all of those around us as well. Our worlds become narrow and rather sad.

If we are all about Humanism we'll live our lives only for us and never be happy because we don't know the joy of making others happy. Our life is all about consuming. The beauty of the view at the edge of a cliff is lost because it's not comfortable or very reasonable to live there. Comfort is the goal of life and so life becomes stale and boring; and so do we.

But there is way out of these three systems. A way to being _alive_.

Question: Which of these three schools of thought do you think has brought the most burden into your life? And which one do you think prevails amongst your circle of friends or family? These are good questions to ask before moving onto the next chapter.

*****

Chapter 2: Grace

The band Radiohead have a great song called "Karma Police," where they sing about how they've given all they can but it's not enough - payment must still be made.4 I think the song is pertinent here and agree with Bono that we've moved out of Karma into Grace. The trouble is, many of us just haven't accepted Grace and so we still live under Karma.

To live under Grace is incredibly liberating, but incredibly difficult. Where the difficulty lies is that society and our upbringing constantly tells us that we must be mad to live under Grace. The real world doesn't work like that, we're told. Grace can also sometimes seem unfair and unjust – because we should always pay for what we've done – and thus it becomes incredibly difficult to believe.

Grace is not just an idea but a lifestyle. It requires a change of mode and a change of life. If Grace is true then we ought to live very differently, and it's in this difference of living that we'll find that we're finally alive.

The concept of Grace doesn't fit into the three philosophies mentioned in the first chapter – Karma, Kantianism and Humanism.

Karma obviously believes that we should _always_ sow what we reap. There is _always_ a cause and an effect, and the effect can never be altered or serve any kind of good. I'll get to that in detail later.

Kantianism is unable to see how bad moral actions could ever amount to anything good. And it attacks our motives in such a deep way that it can be impossible for us to see how we could ever have good motives. For, it says the minute we get enjoyment out of an act of moral action (even if it is obviously good) then we aren't performing the moral action with the right motives. So, even good actions are bad if the motive is for enjoyment. But Grace is able to transform all of our actions into something good. If we let it.

Humanism doesn't even see Grace as something real. Under Humanism no bad action could ever amount to good and all actions have a consequence. We must deal with the consequence and our regret. Effectively, we have to get over it. In the end, only the fittest and the strongest can survive. If you can't deal with what your actions have brought into your life then you are simply not strong enough. Grace is an illusion and an impossibility.

The concept of Grace in world religion

The concept of Grace comes from theology and is present in a few spiritual traditions. Interestingly enough, however, there is only one spirituality in the world that has built everything it believes primarily on the concept – and that is Christianity. There are very clear reasons for this, but we'll get to that in a moment.

In general the concept doesn't seem to be very popular in religion. The way I define religion is any spiritual belief that advocates that good works get you to heaven. So effectively, everything you do in this life is weighed on a scale and if the good outweighs the bad, God will let you into his heaven.

Now, for those reading this book that don't believe in a god, bear with me a moment. I'm using this as a springboard to show what I mean by Grace.

Religion and Karma are clearly friends, but what religion usually tries to do is define your good works in its own way by insisting that good works include your doing a kind of ceremony, mantra, or worshipping God in a particular way – its way. So you need to follow its traditions as part of your good works.

Now, I have no problem with tradition, in fact I tend to like traditions as they can teach us things. But what I'm saying is that religion tends to uplift the traditions more highly than they ought and it all becomes about its system of belief and action, which can often get pretty complicated.

But Grace is certainly taught in various degrees within many spiritual traditions. But to see if Grace is truly Grace one would need to spend some time studying its use and meaning in that tradition and weighing whether the theology or the teacher of that theology really means grace when it or they say it, or if they mean something different.

It seems to me they very often mean something different to what I'm going to present in this chapter. When one says that we depend on the grace and mercy of God they may mean that we really depend on God's mood for the day. They don't mean that this grace and mercy is guaranteed because their concept of God doesn't include a character where grace and mercy are intrinsic.

Others will talk about God's grace but will say that this grace needs to be earned. If grace needs to be earned then how can it truly be grace? These are the kinds of questions we should ask, so if someone talks about grace we can't assume they mean the same kind of grace I'm going to talk about here.

A definition of Grace

So now, having said all that, it's my job to define what I mean by Grace in this book and then talk about why it's so important in enjoying our lives, although that might already be clear to some of you reading this now.

I like to see Grace having three parts. I call these Past Grace, Present Grace, and Future Grace. Grace is able to take our mistakes and failures of the past, present and future and alter these so that they can become something beautiful. It means that your mistakes no longer have to be burdensome and atoned for. They transform.

How do they transform? Well, they become lessons for the future, for one. They become character-building moments, for two. But Grace doesn't just do that. We've probably heard all that in many motivational talks. Grace also nullifies Karma in that what we sow doesn't have to be what we reap. We can actually reap good things from the mistakes of the past, if we let Grace transform them.

It also means the past is wiped clear, as it were, and we can start over.

You see Karma, Kantianism and Humanism can never do that. They can perform no miracles nor do they see miracles as possible. Humanism can never look at a past event and really say it was a good thing. It may say it was an evil thing that one was able to use to become a better person (relatively speaking, of course) but it can never say the actual event itself was a good thing.

But I'm cheating you right now by not telling you the whole story. Grace must come from somewhere in order to work. It's not just a matter of thinking differently because regardless of what we think we still need to live in the real world. And the system of the real world works very much like Karma. Common sense and Science prove it – if you sow beans in the ground you will reap beans, not oranges. It's simply common sense.

Unless, of course, one gets themselves out of the system entirely. And that's going to be my point: we have to escape the system. We have to get out of it completely. And that's what Grace does. And we don't do this by coming under another system with its own rules and formulas. Rather, we do it by coming under the wing of the very one who designed the system of sowing and reaping.

An example from home

I don't know about you, but the system of sowing and reaping was not always clear cut at home when I lived with my parents.

Here's why: my parents loved me and had emotions, feelings and a personality.

While a bad deed most of the time got me a hiding there was always grace after the hiding. I didn't have to earn my way back into my parents' hearts after I had done something wrong. The only reason I got a hiding was so that I could learn not to do it again – usually not because my parents took it personally but because they wanted what was best for me.

Under this system bad deeds were good things. Without them I wouldn't have learned. Hidings were good things – at a young age there is no chance I would have understood all the grand implications of what I had done and what doing such a thing meant in the future. There's no chance I was intellectually or emotionally strong enough to understand that stealing a sweet from my brother could develop into a habit for life. Only in hindsight can I see that the hidings prevented me from developing habits that would harm me and those around me.

I know many of us come from broken families but we do all understand the basic concept of family. Just know that by being a son we needn't have to earn ourselves into our parents' hearts or their house or their fridge. We don't always reap what we sow. There is protection and covering for us as children. If the law of the country says stealing is a ticket to jail, in my parents' house stealing led to nothing more than a hiding. Afterwards, everything was back to normal and I could go out to play and there would still be breakfast on the table the next morning.

Grace therefore requires the element of parenting, of fatherhood.

See, a system works like a machine. Machines don't care about you. They have no idea what love means. They just do what they do and you need to either slot in or slot out.

Karma is a system. Kantianism is a system. Humanism is a system. Fatherhood is not a system. Fatherhood understands love.

Grace, therefore, can never be a _system_. If grace is a system it does not understand love. So the concept of Grace cannot exist without the concept of love, otherwise grace isn't truly grace, it's just another system we have to work within or make work for us.

Making life work

I don't know about you but I'm tired of having to make life _work_. What we're effectively taught by philosophy, society and our upbringing is this:

Discover the system, understand how it works, and make it work for you.

Only the fittest rise high enough to get the system to work for them. Of course, what that often relates to is tramping on others and using them so that everything works for you.

You can't live a life that is truly loving to others while trying to get the system to work for you. One of them has got to give in the end. This is because the system doesn't work on a principle of love it works on a principle of manipulation. It doesn't care about anyone or who's on top, it's just a machine.

You are trying to manipulate the system. Everyone is. That's what we're taught to do. But there is no way both you and I can manipulate the system together because one of us will need to compromise or give up something to allow the other one to benefit from the system. And the minute we're doing that we're no longer manipulating the system and there's no telling when it will spit us out. Only one can have the power over the system. This power cannot be shared.

Come under fatherhood

And so I say all that to bring it back to this: we need to come under fatherhood where love is understood and where grace abounds. Grace cannot be a system otherwise it is just another system to manipulate.

Rather, it must come from a person. It has to come from a father. It has to come from somewhere and someone who loves you. It can only work in a relational context.

It has to come from God.

And that God must have a personality otherwise they cannot _love_. The Force in Star Wars, as an example, does not understand love. God has to be a person for there to be true grace.

And this is the key here. In order to be free from the systems of Karma, Kantianism and Humanism we have to leave these altogether. But we can't move into another _system_ as any other kind of system is going to put us under the burden of that system as we'll need to play by its rules.

If you don't believe in a god I've probably lost you here. I would encourage you to keep reading anyway. I really see no other way to freedom except by being set free. We're in slavery to the system and even if we exchange these systems for another we'll always be in slavery to a system.

_The bottom line is that living under a system is flawed. We have to get out of living under a system – regardless of what it is._ Be free from the systems of this world that promise us everything but only chew us up and spit us out, if we don't grow weary first.

Don't come under a new system. Come under a new understanding, a new revelation, and a new relationship. My experience shows me that this is the only way.

You might at this point close the book and say it's not what you're looking for. That's okay. Maybe you'll learn how to manipulate the system. Maybe you'll go on to be a success in this world. Maybe you'll get all you want. Maybe you'll gain the entire world.

But I ask you: what will become of your soul?

If you want to be alive and feel alive and enjoy living you need your soul intact. It's just common sense.

No man in history has gained the entire world and kept his soul intact. Not one. Ever. Reasonable thinking suggests that the gaining of the world is therefore not the key to truly being alive.

So you might say you're not keen to come under a fathering God. Okay. But you will lose your soul in the process of doing anything else.

I say think about it. Take your time if you have to. But really think about it. Can you really do what no man has ever done: keep your soul and win over the system? I'm not convinced you or anyone can.

*****

Chapter 3: Why I Support Hedonism

With all that talk about God and Grace and Humanism in the previous chapter, saying I support Hedonism probably comes as a surprise.

So let's get to what I mean.

In Chapter One I spoke about Kantianism but also Stoicism. Addressing these will free us up into enjoying not just a jet ski down a lake or a good time surfing, but also the little things that we miss every day: simple things like the night noises we hear from outside our windows at night or the fresh breeze on an Autumn morning.

The kind of hedonism I am going to espouse in this book is different to the standard understanding of hedonism.

The reason why we misunderstand hedonism or why my mentioning it might seem strange is largely because many of us assign Kantian philosophy with religion or spirituality, in particular Christianity.

Kantianism, as I explained in Chapter One, can be summarised as saying that an action is not truly moral if one gets enjoyment out of doing it. In other words, _truly moral actions ought to have no pursuit of reward attached to them._ As soon as we do something with the thought of receiving a reward from doing it then it ceases to be moral.

Well, this is the very _opposite_ to what Jesus said.

Matt 6:20, 21 (Jesus speaking)

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but _lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven_ , where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your _treasure_ is, there your heart will be also."

Our first approach to this scripture may be to say that it sounds particularly Kantian – stop wasting time with this world but focus only on 'heavenly', more 'spiritual' things.

But that's only the case if we apply Kantian philosophy to it and to what 'heaven' means – in other words, we read the idea that all true moral actions must not have any pursuit of reward _into_ the text.

But if we read _out_ of the text, which is how we ought to read anything, we see clearly that Jesus encourages us to pursue _treasure_. He doesn't have a problem with treasure, or a problem with wanting it \- _the problem is what we make our treasure._

In its context this scripture is talking particularly about morals. It starts with the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) which talks about what kind of people are blessed – particularly those that are counter-cultural.

When reading this below remember that the word 'blessed' in the original language this was written in, Koine Greek, actually means 'happy'.5 We can probably also use the word 'glad' and some Bibles, such as the AMP, even use the phrase 'to be envied'. Look at this scripture keeping that thought in mind:

vs 3-12

" _Blessed_ [happy] are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be _satisfied_.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons (or daughters) of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. _Rejoice and be glad_ , for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

After this, Jesus talks about moral issues – lust, divorce, anger, giving to the needy, loving enemies etc. until the end of Matthew 7.

If reading _out_ the text a few things become clear and a few questions are raised. Firstly, _happy_ are those who are poor in spirit? Well how can one be poor in spirit and be _happy?_

Now I'm using these two scriptures to show that Christianity does not support Kant's view that true moral actions are to have no pursuit of reward attached. Jesus promises rewards and treasures if we live life in the way in which he outlines in the above scriptures. The quest for happiness is central here. Jesus is not saying that rewards are a matter-of-fact or a by-product of moral actions, like some bonus to be received, but rather insists they should be pursued.

Jesus' teachings are full of encouragements that people pursue _real_ treasure. The problem is where we _go_ to get rewards and treasures, not the fact that we want rewards and treasures. There's no single scripture anywhere where Jesus tells people it's wrong to want treasure, only scriptures where Jesus is saying certain things in life are not worth pursuing and others are. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be (Matt 6:21).

So what is your treasure? That's the underlying question he is asking. And he is saying don't lay up treasures on earth, but rather treasures in heaven.

But what does he mean by that?

All through the Bible promises of reward abound, and the Bible is not ashamed to make reward a quest in life. Its main thrust is showing us where real rewards are and where empty promises lie.

In the well-known prayer that Jesus taught, he includes the line that God's will ought to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven (Mark 6:10). If you know anything about Jesus' teachings you would know he would talk a great deal about "the Kingdom", saying that the Kingdom has finally arrived here on earth.

Careful study will show that one of Jesus' central visions and indeed a central belief amongst Christians throughout the ages is to see heaven and earth connect. When Jesus talks about the Kingdom having arrived he means that God's reign is now entering earth. Heaven is coming to earth. So when he talks about laying treasures in heaven he doesn't mean we ought to completely forget about our lives on earth and focus only on the afterlife. He means that we ought to re-align our goals and pursuits in our current lives to line up with what heaven is about.

These scriptures are not Stoic either. Why would Jesus tell people to _rejoice_ and be _glad_? Shouldn't he rather say something like, "Consider you have done your duty", or "Consider that you have achieved a state of great virtue (just make sure you never _enjoy_ being here, otherwise you will lose it)?"

That's not what he says.

So what _are_ these rewards he speaks of? What are the treasures we can get? What does Jesus say is worth pursuing the most? Well, it seems that material rewards are sometimes in mind but only when they are the 'by-product' of other kinds of rewards. Or, rather it seems that material rewards are said to not bring any joy unless they are preceded by other, better, kinds of rewards.

So we're still left with the question: if Jesus is onto something, what are these rewards that we should pursue the most?

Jesus would have believed the Psalms in the Bible, since these were a part of Hebrew scripture. Often he even quoted psalms. Psalm 16 I think gives us a clue on the better rewards, the heavenly treasures, Jesus has in mind.

Psalm 16:11

"You make known to me the path of _life_ ; in your _presence_ there is _fullness of joy_ ; at your right hand are _pleasures_ _forevermore_."

Sorry for Kant and the Stoics but all this talk about pleasures and joy is hedonist-speak. And where the hedonism is directed is of utmost interest here. It's directed at God, who's presence has fullness of joy and who possesses pleasures forevermore.

Does this surprise you to see this in the Christian Bible? It surprised me the first time I saw it, I'll admit.

Where hedonists generally go wrong

There are many people who call themselves hedonists but most of them generally go wrong in the kind of pleasures they pursue. Hedonists want a life of pleasure but where they go wrong is they make pleasure itself a means and an end. Unfortunately, when pleasure is also the end it loses its allure.

It's a strange irony but when one seeks for enjoyment in enjoyment then the whole experience tends to escape them. It seems a fact of life that the enjoyment needs to be experienced almost spontaneously. If I try and take pleasure in pleasure itself then it's almost as if I'm thinking about it too much or trying too hard. The pleasure escapes me and I'm left with nothing.

We tend to need to enjoy some _thing_. Pleasure itself can't be pleasurable. It's not as if it is a thing of its own. It's pleasure _in a thing_ that makes all the difference.

Hedonists in our post-modern world generally only think about what they know and what the system knows and they seek for pleasure in these things. Sex, power, money, thrills, relationships, alcohol, religion, tradition, morality – name the thing or things that you find yourself taking the most pleasure in. Go for that. That's what we're told.

Moral hedonists?

You might think it's strange that I include morality in that list as hedonists, as we know them, are usually characterised as people who have very loose morals. But the early hedonists, known as the Epicureans during ancient Greek times, were known to have better morals than the Stoics at the time.

I will use their argument to my advantage because I think it's a great argument and I support it. However, I will have to say here that I don't think they took hedonism as far as it could go in their time, and we don't do it today either.

The argument goes like this: actions that are usually more moral in nature tend to provide more pleasure for the long-term. Therefore, true hedonists – who are seeking for the best pleasures in life – are generally more moral.

Long-term, quality pleasures win over short-term and quantity pleasures. For example, one can sleep around and enjoy all the sex they want, but in doing so they ruin their ability to enjoy the pleasures of having one stable and loving relationship with one partner for life. One can't do both.

Modern day hedonists, influenced by free-love thinking from the 60's, would say that sleeping around is better, pleasurably speaking. Epicureans would dare to differ, saying a stable and loving relationship over the long-term is better, pleasurably speaking. I agree with the Epicureans in this sense, and I think it makes perfect sense. Most people who sleep around tend to eventually get tired of it as it loses its allure. By then getting into a relationship with one person can be very difficult due to a number of reasons.

Ah, but Grace can change that. More on that throughout the book.

Another example. The pursuit of power leads to a lot more pain in this life than pleasure. That's usually the case. There are very few happy rulers in this world and that is something that history shows us to continually be the case.

While I don't know if the Epicureans ever made this argument, it seems to me that the quest for power – while seeming to offer a life of pleasure – actually provides less pleasure than living a quieter and more peaceful life.

Modern day hedonists may disagree but I don't see any sense in their arguments. History proves them wrong.

The pursuit of money and riches and the pleasures these bring often leaves in its wake broken relationships and families. So is the pursuit of these kinds of pleasures worth it? If one is a real hedonist wouldn't they seek the better pleasures in life, such as strong families and loving relationships? Surely the answer there is yes.

Where I differ

Where I differ is in the list of pleasures available to us. Epicureans and hedonists in general draw the line at natural pleasures – things we know, such as love, sex, relationships, power, etc.

They also tend to be rather idealistic. What do we do when we want to pursue the better pleasure of a loving relationship with our spouse, knowing in our minds that that is the better and more pleasurable thing for us in life, but the sexy young girl at the office is practically offering us her body on a plate?

What do we do when things are a little shaky at home, as they can so often be, and we've started to grow a little weary and today that guy at the office who you feel tends to respect you and hold you in higher esteem than your husband makes it clear that you need only nod your head and he'll sweep you in his arms and give you pleasures you haven't felt at home for a long time?

Where do we get the willpower to say no, knowing what is actually truly pleasurable, but weary and tired of having to always make the sensible decision?

You see, hedonism can also trap us into its system. It can be a system of do whatever you want whenever you want it – which leads to many problems – or a moral system of don't do whatever you want when you want because you know that those things will hurt you and lead to a worse life overall. Both become constricting in their own way. So we can't rely on hedonism in itself. We have to escape the system yet again.

But we can use its basic principle, and indeed I think we should use its basic principle. The pursuit of pleasure isn't a bad thing, it's just that we only seek pleasure in things that can't satisfy. So we ought to seek for enjoyment and pleasure in the highest and most satisfying thing there is in this universe. The only thing that, if we seek for pleasure in it, then we will find our hearts can change and we can live for the better pleasures of life overall.

Because, finally, we are content.

Remember what I said in the first chapter, that our hearts are too stubborn yet they must change? See the temptations presented to us just above, even when we know what are the better pleasures, require our hearts to change before we can make the wiser and more pleasurable choice.

What is the most satisfying pleasure?

So then what is the most satisfying pleasure? What is that thing that will satisfy us? Quench our thirst(s) at last? Make us content?

It's not love. You might have thought I would say that but that answer is too idealistic.

It's God.

Although God is love, love is not God.

Surprised? You might be, you might not be, but do you think it's true? Why or why not?

I believe, from experience and by looking at others, that there is nothing more enjoyable and pleasurable than the presence of God. In fact, there is _fullness of joy_ and _pleasures_ there forevermore (Psalm 16:11, as we saw above) and we are commanded in the Scriptures to seek his presence continually (Psalm 105: 4b).

See the link I'm making here? Jesus tells us to seek for the best treasures in this life. In the Christian Scriptures God says that he is the only one who can satisfy. Jesus says, "Come to me you who are weary and thirsty and I will give you rest," (Matt 11:28; John 7:37). God says that there is fullness of joy in his presence, then he tells us we ought to seek his presence – the ultimate pleasure – continually.

The bottom line is that the God of the Christian Scriptures isn't against pleasure, in fact he is all _for_ pleasure (he created it after all). He is for us pursuing pleasure, but only if we pursue the pleasure that really satisfies. Jesus is making it clear that he is the place, the person, we can go to, to finally be fulfilled, and he wants us to seek for the quenching of our thirst vigorously. Indeed, to make it the pursuit of our lives.

Just be

When my wife is around her presence is around. I can't have my wife's presence without my wife. And if I love my wife's presence it means I love her – I love it when she's around, when I can enjoy her because she is there.

The same goes with God. When he is around then his presence is around. Being with God is the most satisfying thing there is. So I'm not trying to advocate we seek something apart from God when I talk of his presence.

Why this is important is because many people take what's been said here and go on a quest for experience. What they effectively do is make the experience of pleasure the pursuit rather than the thing that gives the pleasure the pursuit.

Like I said earlier, when hedonists do this with other things the pleasure is lost, because we need to take pleasure in some _thing_ to experience pleasure. We can't take pleasure in pleasure because pleasure doesn't just happen on its own.

And, actually, it's not that we need to take pleasure in some _thing_ anymore, it's more that we need to take pleasure in some _one_.

See the difference?

We are designed for relationship. Love is indeed the best thing we experience in this life but it so often disappoints us because love cannot exist on its own. It needs an object of affection. It needs a person. Love doesn't exist as a material object. It requires relationship.

When we find ourselves within the deepest and most satisfying love relationship there is we are finally content. Everyone knows how it seems nothing else matters when they're in love. But it's hard to continue that feeling of being in love because so often we have no control over it. Nevertheless, the principle of how we find ourselves content in those moments applies.

Or think of when we were kids and at home, with no worries of the world on our shoulders. If you're a child and you know your parents love you no matter what there is a contentment there that can't be taken away.

We are designed to live within that contentment day after day, hour after hour. I also call that contentment Joy. It's the joy we all want, the joy of knowing we can be who we are, we are loved for who we are, and we can just _be_.

Life is about _being_ not doing. The doing is meant to come out of the being. I don't know one single person who doesn't want to feel as if they can just _be_ – that they don't have to perform anymore, make life work, but they can just _be_.

Well, this is where I believe we can finally just be. We need to get out the systems, stop trying to make it all work, and get into a new relationship. Yes, a relationship with God, who is the only one who can satisfy. And we need to pursue this relationship, this satisfaction, for all of our lives.

That's the grand adventure of living.

That's being _alive_.

Making this a daily pursuit

I advocate that we should make the seeking of pleasure and joy a daily and proactive pursuit. We should seek for _all_ pleasure, joy and contentment in God foremost; then, the by-product of that is actually being able to enjoy everything _else_ about life as well.

I've found this through experience.

You can't enjoy the beauty in the ocean unless you get a wetsuit, goggles and diving equipment on.

I guess that's one way I can explain it – when you've got God you can enjoy everything else much more fully. When you don't have God you can't truly find real, lasting enjoyment in everything else. It's like you can only see everything else clearly when God lives in you. That's what I've discovered and I'm relating my experience here honestly.

Get out of the systems of this world.

Come under fatherhood.

Pursue the greatest treasure available to us.

Be content. Be joyful.

Be.

Question: What's stopping you from entering under God's fatherhood, getting out of the systems you're in, and pursuing him as the greatest pleasure in this world?

Do you think that obstacle can be overcome? What if you ask God in a simple prayer, like a conversation with a friend, to help you overcome that obstacle?

*****

Chapter 4: New Tastebuds

At this point we have to address a large obstacle that can prevent us from finally getting out of our slavery to the systems and thinking of this world that hold us captive, getting under the fatherhood of God, and pursuing the greatest treasure available to us.

It's that thing called the heart again.

It won't budge. It's been hurt. It likes things God doesn't seem to like. It's chained to all it's ever known in this world. It protests that we need to live in the 'real world' and we can't get onto all this God business. It might be simply dead to seeing God as pleasurable at all, despite the experiences of others.

It's got a lot to protest about. But while our hearts are difficult and stubborn there is a way it can be changed. This seeking God as our ultimate pleasure can be an acquired taste.

So we need new taste buds. Blaise Pascal said in his Pensees: "All men seek happiness without exception. They all aim at this goal, however different the means they use to attain it."6

I believe we need to follow Pascal's advice and seek our happiness. God is where I believe it can be found. Not just happiness but joy and contentment. All we need to do is take it. All we need to do is come into fellowship with God.

Doing this is one of the most simple things we could ever do. It might be difficult to do but it isn't complicated to do. Those are two different things. All it requires is honesty with God, that's it. Nothing special. Just a honest conversation with him, like we were talking to a friend we could trust with our secrets.

Honesty about everything.

Everything.

Our failures. The things we've done to others. The things we've done to ourselves. The fleeting pleasures we've pursued. How we feel we're not really enjoying life. How we want the joy and pleasure he offers us. How we want something deeper, more fulfilling. How we believe that he is the one who could give us a new life.

It's just a simple matter of changing our mind. If you've heard the word 'repentance' before (no doubt you have, and in negative connotations) this is it. Repentance just means changing our mind and deciding to look at things differently. Even if we can't see it differently yet, we've decided we would like to. That's all it means. Don't let the religious nuts destroy something that is actually so good and can bring so much joy.

It really can bring joy.

Repentance is a precious thing to me. I get angry when others throw the word around in an effort to threaten others, to show off their religiosity, to point fingers and judge when God is the one who judges. Being able to tell God I'm sorry sets me free every time I need to do it.

I'll never forget the first time I did it. Everything changed. Everything.

After honesty comes trust. Belief. We believe that Jesus is really everything for us that he claims to be. That he really is the one who can give us real life. That he is God. Letting God know we're going to trust him and take a risk with him now is something good to do. And then that's that.

From here things change in a big way. Sometimes immediately, sometimes a little more slowly. God now begins to renew our tastebuds. Our heart begins to transform. He does a work in us.

He does this through putting himself in us. Christians call that the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives in us. He opens our hearts to see things differently.

Again: This isn't religion

You might have read everything I said above and said to yourself, "Whoa, too much! Where the heck is this going? I didn't want religion!"

Well, I'd like to ask you not to close this book just yet. I have more to say, after all. But I'm being as honest as I can in this book. If the way to truly being alive is not what we expected, offensive, or is too difficult for us, that doesn't make it untrue. But we may need some time to process it for ourselves.

Now, about religion. There are a lot of religions out there that promise us life, but they offer it to us through _religion_ and that's the principal problem. Religion relies a lot on doing formulas, performing ceremonies, and lining up with a set amount of rules to achieve any type of fellowship with God. It's ultimately all about scoring and raking up the right 'points'.

Christianity doesn't. It's all about just living with God, in God, and even for God, because now he has become our central pursuit.

To give us fellowship with God is just one thing Jesus opened up for us when he died on the cross and rose again. What Jesus did there was he took all the things we've done wrong – what the Bible calls sin – and put it on himself so we would not have to face the eternal consequences of having done those things.

Remember, Chapter Two was about Grace. Grace helps us start over. It can take our mistakes of the past and make something beautiful out of them. It takes us out of the system of Karma and sowing and reaping and says this time we aren't going to reap what we have sown. Everything we've sown in our past life is now transformed by God into something else. Instead of reaping despair if we sowed despair, we now reap life from God. All we've got to do is ask him to give it to us.

Some more background

Genesis 1 and 2 in the Bible effectively shows how mankind rejected fellowship with God in place of wanting to be its own god. By doing so, mankind cut its own soul's air supply, blood flow, and bread and water. We _need_ God to survive as creatures of peace, joy and even adventure. Without him, cut off from him, all we have left is ourselves – and so we turn into ourselves, worship ourselves, our world and universe is all about _us_ and even our bodies begin to rule us rather than us rule our bodies.

Even religion, under its guise to make it all about God, effectively makes it all about _us_ – because if _we_ do this or that, then we make right with God. It's got it backwards. It's God that has made right with us first, then he leaves it to us to accept whether or not we want to enter back into fellowship with him.

Sin, another word that has been misused, is something we do when we only know lesser pleasures. When we are not in fellowship with God we don't know the best pleasure we can have – we haven't _tasted_ it. When one only has access to bitter fruit they never know what sweet fruit tastes like. They will settle for their bitter fruit because it's all they know, until they are given sweet fruit. Then they won't go back!

And so neither will I.

Of course, you could give the fruit to them but they still need to taste it, try it out for themselves. Merely giving it to them is not enough – they must step out and take a risk with it. That's part of what _faith_ is. You need to take a risk with this thing.

This is why the Bible can say, "Taste and see that the Lord is _good_." (Psalm 34:8.) Go on, taste, it says – you will be satisfied. Your longings will find their goal. Your thirst will be quenched.

But you've got to _believe_ this is true before you act on it, or if you struggle to believe you've got to take a risk. That's why Christians talk about 'believing' in Jesus, or putting faith in him.

None of these analogies in the Bible ever tell someone their spiritual thirst or their hunger or desire to taste is wrong – these pictures clearly show that there is sweet, nourishing water and there is bracken water, so drink of the _good, overflowing, sweet and delicious_ water.

Or drink of the bracken water. It really is your choice.

Which will you choose?

Getting new tastebuds is another way of saying we need to be born again. Once we get new tastebuds we are free to be true hedonists without delving into lesser pleasures, but delving into the greatest pleasure of all – God's presence. Best of all, this is God's commandment to us – he commands us to drink deep of his glorious delights!

This is part of what Christians mean by being saved. It is truly a gift of God and you don't work for it. You don't earn it. You're simply offered it and are given a choice to either take it or leave it.

Some people think that you still need to work to be saved, that you need to 'keep on being good' to keep on being saved; or that the amount you can enjoy God is dependent on how morally well you've been living; or that the degree in which he loves you is dependent on how much you 'deserve' it.

All of this is wrong. We don't deserve to be saved and if we have to constantly earn our way into God's love then we'll never get there either. What kind of love would that be, anyway? God's love is unconditional – it is given to you as a gift, you choose to accept it or not, and once you believe in Jesus the gift _cannot_ _be taken away from you._

Nothing changes God's love for you, because Jesus took _all_ your wrongdoings upon him. He didn't just take some of it – he took it _all_ – past, present and future!

We can see the world differently. Today. Now.

We can finally be _alive_.

Question: Do you think everything you've been told about Jesus clouds your judgement on what he is all about and why he's relevant? What if all you've thought about him is wrong?

*****

Chapter 5: Joy Everywhere

One of the beautiful things about having free fellowship with God, that is not based on our works but on his simple grace (his gift), is that worship can now happen any where at any time for any reason.

Worship is about purposefully seeking for that joy and pleasure that is only in God. That's really all it is at its core.

Worship does not need to be confined in a church meeting somewhere. In fact, church meetings are meant to be just another element of our worship, like an extension of something we live every day of our lives.

Now, we'll talk about church later in this book because it's something else that has been distorted in a big way. For now, though, I just mention it to show how our relationship with God is once again not tied to any religious ceremony or time.

The great thing about pursuing pleasure in worship, because we are seeking his presence in this and in his presence there is fullness of joy and the satisfaction we need, is that we can now also find it any where at any time and pretty much for any reason.

Sunsets, glorious landscapes, or star-filled skies usually awaken something in a human being of admiration and longing. The admiration can now turn to God - so worship can be anywhere. In fact, turning the admiration to God greatly enhances the experience and the view. The longing our hearts usually experience can be fulfilled or even become more intense and pleasurable when we put God into the picture.

Worship can sometimes just happen spontaneously, when God comes to visit you Himself and surprises you. He does this sort of thing. Only once one has entered into faith, however, does one start recognising these moments. When he does this, then take advantage of the moment – don't be in a rush to get any where if you really don't have to be. Otherwise enjoy his presence as you go wherever you need to go.

Other times we have to initiate. Initiating is not done through following a set of techniques, although we can sometimes use these for the fun of it or because we find them helpful. But we can never let techniques rule our worship otherwise we start getting into religion, and we want to avoid that.

Initiating is often done through making a decision – an act of the will.

But is this a Kantian act of the will – a forcing of the will to do something it doesn't want to? A duty-oriented type of worship?

No. The natural inclination of mankind is to seek for pleasure or contentment or joy. So we don't need to conjure up our willpower to force ourselves to do that, at least. We just need to look for these things in God – we make the decision to seek for these in God.

Stoicism and Kantianism don't help us do this because these ways of thinking try to shut down our natural ability to seek God. Our natural ability, our tool if you wish, our natural mechanism, is our seeking for pleasure. We are naturally hedonists.

Rather than trying to shut that thing down (calling it sinful or not moral, etc.) we should use it to our advantage. We _be_ hedonists! We use our will not to shut down hedonism but to be hedonists in the right thing, in what is supremely valuable, in what will satisfy us – God.

Many Christians have not seen it this way and by trying to shut down the (God given) inclination to be a hedonist, they are surprised to find themselves caught off guard when temptation arises.

Don't get me wrong. Christian hedonists are tempted just like everyone else. The only difference I think is that my natural desire for pleasure doesn't upset me anymore, and I don't have to feel guilty about it. I just have to remember that fleeting pleasures are not going to fulfill me, and I can shift my desire for pleasure toward God.

A quiet time

One of the reasons why Christians should set aside some time during the day, every day, for God, is to make our pursuit of pleasure for the day God Himself. This time set aside for God is often called a quiet time.

However, it seems that largely we've made the point of this 'quiet time' about growth (growing as a Christian) and we've made the by-product of growth enjoyment of God.

But it should actually be the other way around. The point is enjoying God and the by-product of such enjoyment is growth.

This is what worship is about. The more one enjoys God the more they will grow, and then usually the more they grow the more they will want to enjoy God.

But making growth the point transforms it into a type of duty. There is a difference between saying "I _must_ have a quiet time, I _must_ worship God" and saying "I really _need_ to have a quiet time, I _need_ (to worship) God." One is based on duty, the other based on longing and knowing where to be fulfilled.

There are basic things one can remember when approaching a time to be spent enjoying God. One, is that the world is _always_ calling. There is always _something_ that needs to be done.

The relentless need to be doing something is a big prohibiter that stops us from enjoying _living_. Living is simply about _being_ more than doing. It rears its ugly head when we want to enjoy God as well.

Thoughts such as, "This is a waste of time, you need to be doing something more constructive," will always appear when we want to enjoy God. The truth is that pursuing contentment in God is never a waste of time, everything else is a waste of time in comparison because those things won't ultimately fulfill us. They can't satisfy us. They are meant to be an overflowing of our enjoyment, not our enjoyment itself. And only once we are satisfied can we do the things we need to do in a day without being anxious about it.

One of our natural issues is that we are trying to get the most out of life, since we know our days are numbered. So we try and do this by _doing_ as much as we can. We keep busy. Yet, the most-out-of-life is received by usually doing _less_ , not more.

Unceasing worship

Being a hedonist means that when I jump into a pool on a sweltering day I say to myself, before I jump in, "I'm really going to enjoy this and savour every moment of it." My will clicks in to actually enjoy this, to not let the enjoyment of it escape me.

Usually focusing too much on the enjoyment itself when it is happening will have the enjoyment escape me, but deciding to enjoy something before or while I am doing it helps me enjoy whatever it is I'm doing.

We should approach worship the same way. In the morning we can simply decide that we are going to enjoy God today the best way we can, and savour every moment of it. Furthermore, everything we do during the day that we will enjoy we can praise God for.

For God has given us everything richly for our enjoyment (1 Tim 6:17). I have found the more I've let myself be a hedonist in the sense I've been talking about, the more I've been able to enjoy the little and ordinary things of life.

On a gorgeous summer evening, lying in bed next to my wife while listening to the crickets and night noises can often awaken a deep joy inside of me; a joy in God the creator.

When my wife makes me tea and scones on a Saturday afternoon, something about sitting down and enjoying some good sweet things, a cup of tea and her company just makes me happy.

These are ordinary moments that can be very special, if we let it.

Putting my feet in the beach sand while I'm on holiday... ah, I can feel it now, and it's good.

Walking through a wilderness just off the coast on a rainy day... wow, I just feel like God is there and I just enjoy every moment of it.

Generally, actually, I love the rain as much as a great summer day. Just watching the rain drip off the trees, the flowers, the plants of all kinds wherever I am, does something inside of me that is hard to explain.

Seeing old buildings, specifically old church buildings, awakens something inside of me. I really enjoy good architecture. It's a kind of art.

Just remembering moments that I've spent in these kinds of situations where God has been _there_ gives me tremendous joy and feeling. It's because he is there, not because of those things themselves. These are all ordinary, every day things, yet somehow he makes those things all the more enjoyable.

And so the list goes on. In all these ordinary things I can sense God's presence, and enjoy it! Every ordinary thing becomes something we can enjoy when God's presence is around.

Finally, I start feeling alive, as if every moment really is full of adventure and mystery and purpose.

That's the beauty of his presence, and that's how life can be enjoyed.

Real enjoyment doesn't come from me having to own stuff or have fame or anything like that. In the simple things I can enjoy life, because _everything_ around us has been given for our enjoyment – and wherever his presence is, there is fullness of joy.

This opens up a new way of worship that isn't confined to Sunday mornings, particular songs, or a religious ceremony. Don't get me wrong: I believe God's presence is often there in songs, on Sunday mornings, and can even be there in certain ceremonies if they're done with the right heart. But the fact is that wherever God is, that's where joy is, and Christian theology tells us that God is everywhere.

We need to allow our eyes to be opened to see him.

Being born again is the principal way the eyes of our heart and soul are opened, but after that I propose this kind of hedonism I've been talking about – we'll call it Christian Hedonism 7 for lack of a better term – as a way to _keep_ our hearts and souls' eyes open or, rather, to prevent them from being closed easily with all the Stoic, Kantian, Karma and Humanism philosophy we get drummed into us every day. We need to make an active decision that we _will_ enjoy God.

Glorifying God

John Piper, an American writer and pastor, has a phrase for Christian Hedonism that sums it up. He says this: "The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever". Or we could say that "God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him".

St. Irenaeus, who lived in the second century, said it this way: "The Glory of God is man fully _alive_."

I believe that God does not need our worship, as if he required it for anything. What would he require it for? He isn't insecure. What would he need it for? He is all-sufficient and doesn't need anything.

The reason why he commands we worship him is because he knows that this will make us the happiest. He knows that our deepest joys are found in him. He knows that the longings of our heart are satisfied in him. After all, he created us. This is why he commands we worship him – and this is what worship really means. It's not that he needs us, it's that we need _him_.

He created us to be alive and so by being alive, truly alive, we glorify him. A Christian's aim is usually to glorify God in any way, but for too long it has been thought that disinterestedness in what we get out of worship glorifies God more than being very interested in what we get.

Meanwhile, what we get glorifies God.

We must not forget the ends and the means in Piper's statement above. The ends is that God is glorified, the means is we enjoy him. By enjoying him, we glorify him, so let us then enjoy him!

Worship itself is not an ends to anything else but enjoyment. Enjoyment is the point and enjoyment is what we should aim for. Everything else – growth, knowledge, whatever else we gain – is a by-product.

Another way in which we worship is through love, not just toward God but also to our fellow man. That's what the next chapter is about.

Question: Is it difficult to believe that God is always good to us? Why?

*****

Chapter 6: Love

Love is a very important part of enjoying life. We all know that. But we also all know that it comes with a lot of risk, a lot of pain, and a lot of confusion.

On good days we see the beauty of it, on other days we're not so positive about it.

Hedonism is not something that comes across as particularly loving at first glance and usually seems quite selfish. Kantianism and Stoicism don't really work well for love either. Stoic parents, particularly fathers, are all too well known – they don't like to show affection to their kids, and not even to their wives. Fathers like this can be quite common in some cultures.

Karma doesn't like love either. Love in relationships does not always mean what you sow you will reap. Often, those that love well and have been loved well know this.

If I'm in a bad mood due to some or other event and I snap at my wife there are a number of ways she can react, depending on the context. But we all know that love is patient. If she has to tell me to calm down and be hard with me because I keep letting my temper fly that's one thing. How she does it is another. Why she does it is another too. But we would all agree that she needs to be patient above all when it comes to really loving me.

What I should reap if I exhibit (sow) a bad temper is not patience. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. If I snap at her she should snap at me back. That's only fair. And Karma insists on fairness above everything else.

Love and grace work together. The system of Karma has no understanding of these two realities.

Humanism's problem with love is obvious. It's just not logical, nor is it fair, to be patient and kind when someone snaps at me. I have rights too, you know. And I must ensure that I exert my rights so I don't get taken advantage of.

Disinterestedness in the actual emotion of love is what Stoicism and Kantianism teach us, although Kantian thought around love has pervaded when it comes to the motive of love.

Kantian thought basically implies that one is not truly loving if one has their _own_ interest at heart when they love another. But this doesn't work.

Firstly, the well-being and joy of another has to be my own interest if I want to love someone properly. Otherwise, it's not love. If I am not interested in seeing my wife happy, then I am not really loving towards her.

So there has to be an element of self-interest when it comes to loving anyone, even strangers, or else it is not truly love. If my joy is made complete by seeing another person full of joy, which is ultimately the goal, surely, then pursuing that joy is exactly what I need to do to in order to love them.

I pursue my own happiness in the happiness of another, and there is no other way to explain this kind of thinking except, again, using the word 'hedonist'. This is how love really works and if we want to enjoy our lives we need to be free to find our enjoyment in the enjoyment of others. We need to pursue the pleasure of seeing someone else full of joy.

Selfishness, or a more common kind of hedonism, doesn't seek for happiness in the happiness of another. Rather, it teaches for one to seek for ones own happiness _in_ another, or what another _can give_. Its policy is to take but never give, and this never leads to joy but usually leads to more emptiness, because it has an element of gluttony and lust to it.

Humanism usually promotes this kind of thinking. In fact, it's fair to say that Western society has largely bought into a kind of humanistic hedonism.

Christian Hedonism, however, seeks for happiness in the happiness _of_ another and says that to seek for happiness in this happiness is the real duty of love. One does not love by being disinterested, one loves by being very interested, just in things that are actually valuable.

Now, things get difficult here when our love for another does not make them happy, or if ever our seeking for happiness in their happiness does not make them happy.

This is when unconditional love steps in, which is truly the only real way we can love someone properly and with abandon. When love is based on conditions (I love you because of this, or because of that) it very easily falls apart when things get tough.

I believe that one cannot love unconditionally until they, themselves, are at a point of contentment and peace. I believe there is no way one can get to this point until they stop trying to find their contentment and joy in others, but rather in God himself. Once one is satisfied, has peace and contentment and joy, then they are able to love others unconditionally because they are no longer needing anything from that person.

Our own capacity to love is very limited. But God himself is love. (1 John 4:8.)

1 John 4:16

"So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."

Our capacity to love is stretched and transformed when God lives in us and we live in God so that we can love unconditionally and full of grace just like God loves us. We need the Holy Spirit to be able to do this.

Notice that unconditional love is certainly not disinterested love either. It has to still be interested in the well-being of another, and this interest itself shows that there is always an element of self-interest in love, even in unconditional love.

By approaching love in a Christian hedonistic way, we can perform outrageous acts of love – even to strangers – because our own need for love is already satisfied in God, who loves us and abides in us; and our need for joy and contentment is also satisfied in God. We don't have to love selfishly, but we must love interestedly.

God himself approaches good acts with a type of hedonism. See what he says in **Jeremiah 9:24:**

"I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight."

The reward of love is always joy, and we should actively pursue this reward through the act of loving.

In the great 'love chapter' of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, Paul (the writer) shows clearly that there is a kind of reward that ought to motivate us into doing acts of love, and a kind of reward that ought not to motivate us.

1 Cor 13:3-7:

"If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, _I gain nothing_.

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way [or does not seek its own]; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but _rejoices with the truth_. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

The improper gain to pursue from love is the seeking for our own pleasure alone, in other words where we insist others make us happy without regard for their happiness.

The opposite, where we insist others are happy without regard for our happiness, is wrong too. This Kantian way of thinking never allows anyone to enjoy loving another, or to enjoy the act of loving, and never really lasts either. One eventually cracks under the pressure.

I don't mean that we need to insist people take our happiness into account, I'm referring to the motive behind loving.

It's pretty obvious that Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 is saying there is a kind of gain we should actually pursue from love. If he didn't mean we should pursue a kind of gain, he wouldn't have phrased it the way he has – by saying "I gain nothing." He is basically saying "What's the use of that? There's no point. There's no gain."

We can pick up the kind of gain we should pursue from other writings of Paul and other New Testament writers. There are many examples. But Jesus is probably the best example there is, and in Matthew 5 this is what he said:

Matthew 5 vs 43:

"You have heard that it was said, 'You should love your neighbour and hate your enemy.'

"But I say to you – Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and unjust. For if you love those who love you, what _reward do you have?_ Do not even the tax collectors 8 do that same?"

He then shoots things home for us in the next chapter

Matthew 6: vs 1-4

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

"Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that _they may be praised by others_. Truly, I say to you, _they have received their reward._

"But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret _will reward you._ "

There is clearly a kind of reward we should pursue in love, even loving the poor, and a kind of reward we shouldn't. Clearly the kind of reward we shouldn't be seeking is one where we are praised by men.

When someone says, "I love with no need for reward," I say, 'Well, how very noble of you." But, depending on the context, this idea of loving without a reward can still be a reward in itself – it looks noble, and people will praise others for loving so 'nobly'. Well, they have then received their reward in full.

So we ought to make sure we don't love for that reason.

The other kind of reward not to pursue is obviously then the kind spoken about previously by Paul, where love does not 'seek its own.'

No greater love than this

Jesus says in John 15:13 that there is no greater love than when one lays his life down for his friends. But Jesus did not go to the cross, the truly greatest act of love, without the motive of a kind of reward.

**Hebrews 12:2** says **:**

"...Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, _who for the joy that was set before him_ endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

Jesus laid down his life for his friends _for the joy that was set before him_. He now sits at the right hand of God, and at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore! (Psalm 16:11.)

I believe that the kind of reward we should be motivated by is the joy of God; the realisation that we will have God's joyous presence when we love. We love others, unconditionally and when it pains us, so that we may gain God's very joy.

We usually receive his joy in the act of loving, as we go through the actual act. Therefore loving itself brings with it a kind of reward. The reward is almost doubled when the person who we are loving enjoys being loved by us, and so we are happy in their happiness!

If they do not enjoy loving us, we still receive the _joy_ of love, the joy of _God_ , in the actual act of loving – for _God is love_.

'God is love' does not mean 'love is God', as there are many different types of love, but the main thrust of love is to be motivated by the reward of receiving the joy, peace, contentment, and pleasures of God.

So we are to love hedonistically. That doesn't mean we love people who make us feel good and don't love those who don't. We still take joy from the very act of loving because God is the one who will reward us with his pleasures.

So it is not a selfish hedonism. This is a very unselfish hedonism.

We should never seek to be more 'holy' than God tells us to be. Religion is always putting burdens on our backs to make us live in its ways and have to do all sorts of strange things that God never asked us to do. To love without looking to the reward of doing so is not a Scriptural way of loving. Sure, it may sound very noble, but Christians should either decide to love the way the Bible tells them to love or not to.

Christian or not, we must all decide to believe what Jesus says on this or not. Many call Jesus a 'great moral teacher.' I think the statement takes away from his profound teachings and character, plus other important things. Jesus' kind of morals were quite different to what people actually understand and often they project their morality onto his teachings rather than reading what he actually said. Jesus loved with reward in mind – just not the kind of reward that's obvious.

Loving with abandonment

This is how love works when there is suffering. Or, rather, this is the labour of love. Love always comes with an element of suffering and certainly a huge element of vulnerability. It's certainly not easy being patient! It's not easy when someone won't love back. But we can risk it with love when we're satisfied in God because we don't need to get our security or any of those kinds of needs from the relationship anymore. Our hearts are safe with God.

I believe that loving with abandon is an integral part of enjoying life. Relationships are complicated and messy but they don't need to be a burden. For so many it is a burden. But if we love our friends, spouses, family and so on unconditionally and with this kind of reward in mind then I believe love begins to become a joy for us instead.

There is a new way to love. We should pursue the pleasure and joy we receive in the act of loving and in seeing the joy we bring others through loving them. Actively pursuing this pleasure makes loving all the more a joyful and happy act, and we can indeed love even more. We need to love hedonistically.

Question: Do we find it strange and difficult to have God love us so that we are free to love others? Why? What if this is the safest risk we could ever take?

*****

Chapter 7: Simple Living

On his album "On and On", Jack Johnson has a song called "Gone" where he sings about materialism. In one line he mentions fancy clothes and how his clothes can keep him warm just the same. He also mentions how diamond rings and cars and phones are just 'bling' and don't last. I really enjoy the lyrics of that song.

You see, money either owns us or we own it. That's the bottom line. The quest for enjoyment in life is in many ways linked to having control over money, having it be our slave rather than us its slave – and the way that is done is by not pursuing it or deeply desiring to have a lot of it.

Society's grand commandment is very often, "Thou shalt covet. If thou do not covet then thou hath no ambition and will not amount to anything in life."

Coveting is a problem we all have and we need to recognise it for what it is and understand that it in itself – not a lack of it or ambition - is the thing preventing us from enjoying our life. 1 Tim 6: 6-10 is a hard scripture to take but it provides a great basis of how we can live in contentment when it comes to money.

"Now there is great gain in godliness with _contentment_ , for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. _But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content_. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a _snare_ , into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the _love_ of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this _craving_ that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs."

It's clear from this scripture and others that God does not view money as evil but the _love_ of money as evil. It's also clear from this scripture that when one pursues money very deeply and relentlessly they 'pierce themselves with many pangs'. The love of money is a 'harmful desire' that causes 'ruin and destruction'. That's where the constant desire to be rich takes us.

Simplicity is sweeter

At my blog 9 I wrote a post that really echoes what this chapter is about. I'll paste it here as I think it's a pretty concise post. It's called "Simplicity is Sweeter."

The world around us constantly drives an attitude of discontent into us. It always insists we should want more and always makes as if someone who lacks the ambition to have more is a loser or not to be praised.

That's the world. However, the Holy Spirit says something different in 1 Tim 6. [Quoted above.]

Something of this want to have more has also crept into teachings in the Church, most visible in something known as the 'prosperity gospel', which I'm not a fan of.

Our lives are very much a seeking for contentment, happiness and joy ― and there is nothing wrong with us seeking these things! The problem is that the world says we can find them in what it has to offer: Lots of money, lots of property, lots of cars, lots of stuff, lots of girls or guys, lots of sex, lots of fame, even lots of knowledge. And we believe it.

1 Tim 6 is referring specifically to finances, offering something counter-cultural and hardly praised by man: Contentment with your lot.

Of course, when one looks at the poor it may be a little unfair to say to them that they must be 'content' with their hunger or whatever, but that really is a different story altogether. For those who are not poor, contentment with the basics – simplicity – is better than discontent and the need to always have, and have _more_.

However, the quest for contentment can actually come to its end pretty easily. Contentment, true contentment, is actually found in Christ Jesus. In Philippians 2 Paul talks about how he now considers everything he gained as 'rubbish' so that he may gain Christ. Clearly he knew there was a treasure far greater than everything the world offers us.

Contentment, peace and joy knocks at the door – but will we let him in? Or will we be too busy gazing (or rather, coveting) out the back window at our neighbour's house?

Like the scripture says – those who pursue the riches of this world pierce themselves with many pangs. It's not worth it.

Truth be told, there really is no need for someone who earns two million rand a year to live much differently to someone who earns, say, R600,000 a year or thereabouts. Those who earn more just have more to give, really, but the pursuit of stuff will get no one anywhere in the quest for contentment and joy.

Simplicity really is sweeter – and a lot less complicated, of course!

Those who pursue Christ will find much more than they even dreamed. Yeah, it's tough, but finding true treasure takes a lot of digging and a lot of getting dirty – but it's always worth it!

Ah, it feels so great, so sweet, to be content.

Detox your material system

Consumerism is a real problem in the Western world right now. It's not just me saying that. There are many groups and thinkers out there right now who would agree. You can't consume forever, it's unwise and unsustainable. Our current economical recession is largely due to a consumerist philosophy.

My wife says we should "detox our material system." I think that's a smart way of putting it. Life is not about materialism; it's not about having stuff; but simply about _being_ – about _living_.

The best things in life _are_ free. None of us can own love and keep it in a box at home. None of us can exclusively own the rain and the sea and the birds and the stars and beautiful sunsets and good conversation and all of creation. It belongs to us already, and it belongs to _all of us_. We have no exclusivity over it and this actually is part of what makes it so enjoyable.

And God wants us to enjoy it all. After all, the scriptures say that he richly gives us everything to enjoy. (1 Tim 6:17.)

Personally, I think there is great joy if one has a lot of money but still drives a decent enough car, lives in a decent enough house, and never lives excessively. Excessive living can have us miss the joy in the ordinary things of life, and the best joys of life are found in the ordinary and simple things.

Ambition

There is such a thing as healthy ambition and such a thing as unhealthy ambition. It's what we're ambitious about that makes all the difference.

I believe the wrong kind of ambition can hinder our enjoyment of life. When we take ourselves too seriously, when we get overly ambitious about our careers and our status in life becomes all-important, we get hung-up on all sorts of issues and get hung-up on ourselves. In short, we become self-absorbed.

Self-absorption always leads us to stop enjoying our friends, family, and the small ordinary things around us. I've actually never met a happy self-absorbed person.

The world tells us to constantly shift our goal posts if we want to succeed and drills it into us that someone who lacks ambition for their career, their wallet, or their status, is a loser. This is not true. If we constantly shift the goal posts we can never enjoy what we have achieved, and if we are constantly all about what we achieve we can never just _be_ , we always have to _do_. There is never a time we can rest, because the philosophy demands that we should always _climb higher, work harder_ and _run faster._ This is not a philosophy that leads to enjoying ones life! It's more a philosophy of constant work, work, work.

Seriously. The best thing to do is get out of the rat race and realise that it's a waste of time. We have something like 60 to 90 years (on average) to live on this earth – and for what? Cool cars? Cool status? None of these things we can take with us when we die. History won't remember most of us, and those it does don't really play much of a relevance in people's lives today. Things move on.

It is often said that no one on their death bed will say they wished they spent more time at the office. This is true and good to remember. It's also true that life is not _just_ about raising the kids and building a family, though.

The way to strike balance between these two non-rewarding ways of living is to get out of both of them completely. We really can't just live for our families otherwise we feel like we're not worth much when the kids leave the house. But, of course, I'm not saying we don't take care of the family and pursue the joy of doing that.

I'm all for family and I'm all for raising family and creating a protective environment for kids. But one of the best ways we can love our family is live a life that shows what is really valuable. We teach our kids by what we do.

Start wondering what God cares about in this world – such as peace, justice, the poor, love, and even creativity, amongst other things – and start looking to achieving in those areas. I find that has brought much joy to my life.

Building our businesses

If we are business oriented and find making money easy there is nothing wrong with that. We can set financial goals, reach them, and enjoy doing that. Let's just make sure we're not doing it to keep up with the Joneses. We don't need our security from having more stuff or being seen to have all the stuff.

We should rather see how our business can focus around goals such as justice, peace, prosperity, creativity and other goals that include making money but don't exclude everything else at the cost of making money. We can build our businesses or do our work in ways that contribute positively. We use our money for the same things.

This staring out our back window at our neighbour's house is a real problem for all of us. The world is constantly trying to show off, telling us once we have the most things to show off then finally we'll be content. But we'll never be content. There will always be another material item we'll need, another something or other. The competition never ends. It's a rat race, after all.

We have to care for our own house and make that house fruitful. If we're too busy staring at our neighbour's house we'll never get round to maintaining and extending ours. In short, covetousness leads to a life of endless work where we never really achieve any real fruitfulness. It's like constantly buying land but never planting anything on it. Or planting rows and rows of crops but never watering them or taking care of them. Money comes and goes in its seasons, but God always remains and his joy and presence is consistent. We can rely on him for our contentment and use money for giving or creating good things that both us and others can enjoy.

Let's build our businesses and let's dream big. But let's use the money for better and more exciting things than more stuff. I'm not saying we need to go on a guilt trip because there are starving children in the world and people more needy than us. But I am saying that with extra money in our pockets we can do things like build schools, fund artistic projects (someone has to be the money behind the artists out there), build another company to create more jobs, fund science, and do stuff that will better not just others but even society as a whole. There is a lot out there we can do with our money besides put another car in the garage. There are also more sustainable things we can do than just give the money to charity.

Taking it slow

Any chef worth his salt will probably tell you that the actual goal of a great meal is not so much having a full stomach as actually enjoying the tastes, smells and textures of the meal. If one gobbles it up quickly they miss out on the subtleties and the real point. Obviously you'll be full - that's a given – but enjoy the meal while you're on your way there.

Yet we are taught about life differently. We all want to gobble it up so quickly so we can reach the end goal – being full. But the problem is we're never really satisfied because tomorrow we need to eat again. Wouldn't it have been far better to have enjoyed the meal in all of its glory and the good conversation while you were at it? Unhealthy ambitions are much the same.

While we're always under pressure to have everything now this is actually a very unwise way to live. Once we've got everything, what then? We're often told once everything is sorted we can enjoy the good things in life then but that is just idealistic nonsense. If you stand on everyone on your way up, ruin your relationships, or miss your kids growing up all in an effort to make enough money so you can enjoy your kids one day (when will that day be?) you've already missed the greater joys in life. We're not the ones always deciding when special moments will happen – in fact, most of the time life happens to us more than we make life happen. We can't be too busy with our work to make life happen when life is already happening! What's the point of that?

We do need to take it slower and enjoy each day as it comes. Let's not miss those special moments in our lives because we're too anxious about trying to create special moments by having enough money. Take it slow and enjoy the ride a bit too, as they say.

Anxiety

In all honesty, since I've actually just looked to God to make me content, and also changed my thinking about how I use my money, finances have become easier to manage; or they at least seem like they are not such an overly important worry anymore.

**Matthew 6: 24** (Jesus speaking)

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

"Therefore I tell you, _do not be anxious_ about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is _not life more_ than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. _Are you not of more value than they?_

"And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

"And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

"But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

I believe that if we seek to find our contentment in God ("Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness") we will find contentment.

Anxiety is a real joy-killer. I don't know about you but I can do without it. I have found that regardless of the amount of money I get it seems that anxiety will never go away. It's not really my circumstances that need to change as much as it's me that needs to change. My thinking around money and my heart need to change. Then I don't have to live with this constant nagging in my stomach about my next paycheck and that I'm not achieving my dreams quick enough.

The love of money has caused all sorts of problems in our world and none of us should think we are 'strong enough' to keep its allure under control.

Some of the pangs the world has pierced itself with because of the love of money include global warming and many wars. Even the two World Wars were about power and money, and that is the bottom line. It may have hid its face under a blanket of all high-sounding philosophical nonsense, but the love of power and money have always been the bottom line.

Those who seek these things _will_ pierce themselves with many pangs. That is a fact. Pursuing money does not lead to a life of enjoyment, but rather a life weighed down by more troubles and anxieties. When you have a lot of money there is usually a greater fear of losing it as well. We have to let money work for us and not work for money.

Hebrews 13:5

"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say,

'The Lord is my helper; _I will not fear;_ what can man do to me?'"

The endless grind of working and working and working to satisfy the coveting and unhealthy ambition in our hearts needs to stop. If we don't let it end we will not be happy. It's a hard fact. It's one I have to remind myself of all the time. I can't ignore it.

I don't say someone should not be rich, I only say that someone shouldn't make being rich the _pursuit_ of their life. We can make other things goals in our life and plan to make a lot of money to achieve those goals, but there are more fun, more interesting, and altogether more valuable goals in life than just more stuff.

I also don't say someone should see their God-given ability to do business as something evil. Good business leads to more money and one should enjoy doing business if that's what they're clearly good at doing, obviously, but it's all about how the money is used and what priority it has in someone's life.

We should seek, again, to be Christian Hedonists with money – seek to use it to attain all kinds of real joys in this life, pleasures that truly last and stand the test of time.

Question: Can you already see things you can spend your money on that are better that just more stuff? What can you do to re-orientate your business, your work, and your finances?

*****

Chapter 8: Riding Waves

At this point it seems right to talk about taking risks.

Risk is always right. But risks start becoming senseless when our motives for taking the risk are actually nonsensical.

People take risks for different reasons: sometimes to look good, be praised by men, or to give their ego a boost. I don't think these are the right kind of reasons to take risks as they are empty things to pursue in themselves.

The praise of men doesn't last long, our ego's are always going to need another boost, and if we try too hard to look good in front of others we'll only create more problems for ourselves when the day comes that we fail at something.

Taking a risk for the sake of love is a different story, though.

For instance my wife, Shannon, and I took a risk when we got married. Not only have we taken a risk with each other emotionally but we took financial risks too. We didn't exactly have a lot going for us when we married, but we decided waiting around until we were financially stable could take a very, very long time. It wasn't worth postponing a marriage. We loved each other! (And of course, still do!)

We have climbed a road in the finance department since we have gotten married, and the climb has by no means been a surprise. We knew this is one area we would struggle in, but we took the risk anyway. Having the preceding chapter in mind has been a great help for me in this area.

I believe this kind of risk is right. It was done for the sake of love.

Our emotional risk is right too. Many people questioned our decision not to sleep together before we got married. The argument was basically that it's too _risky_. How were we supposed to know we're compatible? But that risk was worth it. I believe we took the hedonistic route – we postponed a brief pleasure for now for the greater pleasures of closer intimacy. We didn't have to take any kind of guilt into our marriage and were able to discover new things about each other once we got married. It's really paid off. I prefer living life on the edge in good things. And such risks always pay off – just not in the way one might expect.

Our financial challenges have grown us and taught us how to work together as a team. We're still learning but the risk was worth it. Soon we'll have a child of our own as well and the joy of having children I am convinced will outweigh the challenges of trying to provide financially. Some things in life are just better.

Comfort vs enjoyment

Enjoying life is usually not about being comfortable. None of the risks Shannon and I have taken above have been _comfortable_ , but it sure has produced many other types of joys.

People in all types of extreme sports will tell you this. It takes work to climb a mountain. You don't exactly call climbing a mountain comfortable. You're more enclined to call it risky and hard work. But mountain climbers always say the reward and pleasure of it far outweighs the negatives. Indeed, overcoming the negatives is half the point!

Surfers take a risk when they get out there and ride waves despite the rocks and the sharks. I've heard many shark stories from my surfer friends, but they all say the risk was worth it. No sooner are they back in the water after a shark scare.

I've always wanted to surf but I'm not a strong swimmer. I usually only go so far out when we're at the sea swimming and then no further. The idea of surfing both excites and scares me at the same time.

The point is that one day I'll probably just go for it and I know the risk will be worth it. I've just heard too many good stories to doubt it. Adventure doesn't come by sitting around and doing nothing; adventure comes by doing something.

In life, risk is worth it too. Sometimes it may pay off, sometimes not, but it's better to risk it and lose it than never risk it and wonder what would have happened if you had.

I've taken a number of risks and a number of comfort options in my life. When I left school I wanted to get into radio, so I took a risk with a local community radio station. Pay was bad, the job was fun, but the station had to close down because of lack of funding. I don't regret having taken the risk in hindsight, even though the ordeal was painful, but I must admit that at that time of my life when it all happened it left me confused and I felt like a failure.

So after that, in my fear of risking it again, I chose a 'safe' job with a local computer repair company. Pay was good, but my work was hardly fun.

I got stuck in a cycle of comfort. I decided comfort meant more to me than fun and joy. And I paid for it! For eight years I worked in the computer repair business and hated every day of it. Pay even went pretty sour towards the end of my stint, and the pay never matched all the hours I had to put in.

But the point is I had financial _security_ , even if it was bad. I at least knew a salary was going to come in every month, and I could just blame the lack of finances on the company, not on my own inability or lack of discipline.

Yet my deep longing for something more exciting, more interesting, and more, well, _me_ , kept coming back again and again. I used to often say I felt like Indiana Jones stuck behind a desk. You don't put Indy behind a desk. I wanted to be Indy, not Dilbert.

Security and comfort will suck us in and cause us to be paranoid about what's out there. Despite how much I hated my job, I couldn't leave because I was actually too scared. This is where choosing the non-risky option got me. I regret having done it. But I did learn a heck of a lot and at least don't look back at it all negatively.

I took a risk with two rock bands and neither of them worked out. But I don't regret taking the risk! We had good times together, we've got great stories, and friendships formed are of the lasting kind. Heck, the lead singer of one of the bands is now my brother-in-law.

About four years ago I left my horrible job and decided to take up writing full time. It's been a slog, it's been hardly comfortable, and my financial security has been topsy-turvy. But I work from home, I see my wife more than most husbands get to, I am able to get a fair amount of time to myself (much more than before, at least) and now also have time to write music. Plus, I'm getting closer to my dream of being a full-time book writer and speaker one day.

So, the rewards of taking the risk may not be the obvious. The world views success only through financial prosperity and financial security. Those aren't bad things, of course, but there's a lot more to life than that! I always say that a view is most beautiful at the edge of the cliff, right where it's the most dangerous.

While some of what I'm saying here might not sound particularly appealing, it's important to remember that we all have to take risks in pretty much everything we do. Even staying in a safe comfortable job is a form of risk – none of us know what is going to happen tomorrow. Plus you could be missing many opportunities by staying in your comfortable but boring job. You're taking a risk with it, except I would say you're risking with the wrong thing.

Security actually doesn't exist, and all the risks I've taken in my life have always led to greater happiness, even if they are less comfortable.

Comfort does not lead to happiness. It can very often have the opposite effect, numbing us down and making life boring.

I don't mean to say that the risks my wife and I have taken so far in life have been that amazing, especially when we compare it to the risks that many others whom we deem a success have taken throughout history. But the point is that I believe the only reason why Shannon and I can find joy in our uncomfortable situations is because we have God, who sustains us with his joy and who says he has a purpose for us.

I believe the secret is this: Risk is always right, God is always good and he is always turning everything together for our good.

God is not predictable. No, rather he is wild and spontaneous. But that doesn't make him malevolent, nor does it make him incapable of keeping us safe from harm. In fact, an all-wise, all wild, all loving God is exactly the kind of God who we can rely on to protect us. The love of God is a wild kind of love, after all.

C.S. Lewis illustrates this wonderfully through his portrayal of Aslan the Lion in the Chronicles of Narnia books. When the youngest character of the book, Lucy, asks whether Aslan is 'safe' in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, she receives the response that no one said anything about Aslan being safe, but he is good, and he is the King.10

Safety and comfort are not really the same thing, so we could say our _hearts_ are safe with him – even if they are not comfortable. Yet he promises to even comfort us as the God of all comfort. (2 Corinthians 1: 3-7.) However, his type of comfort is not a cushy kind of comfort, it's rather the heart-knowledge that we can rest in his love and grace.

Risk-taking in life is easier to do when you know that somehow God will turn it all together for the good. Romans 8:28 is one of my favourite verses of scripture which says this exactly – God turns everything together for the good for those who love him.

He will. He is always doing that. Faith is about taking risks – we have to step out the boat and walk on the water. If we start sinking, God is there to pull us up, so there isn't truly anything to worry about. It's not easy but the risk is _always_ worth it.

I believe that if we want to enjoy our lives we have to take risks. Comfort and security doesn't really exist outside of God anyway. In everything we do we always have to take some form of risk. I never want to say "If only if..." to myself. All the risks I've taken have always paid off, even if they didn't pay off the way I wanted them to.

I don't regret any single one. Even though others may look at them as failures, and even think I am a failure, I look at them as a ride, an adventure – and it was (and still is) fun!

Fear of failure

One of the biggest prohibitors of taking risks is the fear of failure. Fear is generally a paralysing thing and stops us from enjoying life and taking the risks we need to.

Our fear of failure, at least in my experience, has more to do with what others will think of us than anything else. What others will think is hardly something that should really be in our consideration when taking a risk, yet in reality it's a very real fear.

But in reality we also need to just stop caring what others think of us in this respect. I don't mean we take stupid risks and not listen when people give us good council, I just mean that we don't make their opinion of us – ie. our status in peoples' eyes – the reason why we don't take a risk. We have to address the fear of failure head-on and realise that if we succumb to this fear we will simply live in regret.

Risk at the right time

Risk is right at the right time. At the wrong time, risk can be detrimental to our joy. We have to rely on God, and those who lead us, to show us the right time.

But while there is a time to risk, it's also no use waiting around forever before taking a risk! A risk cannot be a risk if everything is guaranteed to work. We can't wait around forever. We have to get the balance right.

Question: Is there something you should risk with right now but you're finding it difficult to do that? Why? What's stopping you?

*****

Chapter 9: No Man is an Island

This chapter is about community.

Humanism has, in a big way, contributed to forming a highly individualised society in the West. Living in South Africa I tend to see the tension between the West's influence of individualism and the African influence of community.

However, I have noticed that some communities in Africa can often be very manipulative and prevent people from achieving their own dreams or thinking for themselves. We need a balance, I think, when it comes to enjoying our lives.

Community is important as it provides for us a safety net in many respects. Even when things go wrong at work, at least I have my community where I can find support, council, depth, even a good laugh, and a myriad of other things.

It's difficult to explain the benefits of community to someone who thinks over-individualistically because they're so used to having to live alone. But most of us know what loneliness feels like. Community helps for us to avoid loneliness, for one, but it can also provide a unique mission in our lives. In other words, it helps to find something to stand for.

In South Africa we have pockets of community, such as the Indian Community, the Muslim Community, the Afrikaans Community, and so on.

The thing about most of our communities is they generally centre around a particular race or perhaps a particular interest. If they stand for anything, they often simply stand for themselves. Now, I don't think that's necessary a bad thing but when it goes too far a self-serving community can not only make our lives a misery due to a lot of manipulation that takes place, but can also make life a misery for others.

But there is a community that focuses (or at least, should focus) around a particular _person_ , which is why that community often calls itself a family.

The difference is it's a family that consists of every kind of person from every race and background.

In case you haven't guessed yet, yes I'm going to talk about church.

Now, this word 'church' brings up so many different responses from so many different people that it can be incredibly difficult to talk about it. From Christians (believe it or not) to atheists, everyone has an issue with church.

The word 'Church' in the original Greek simply means 'called out ones'. In essence, it means a people, or a kind of people, that have been 'called out' to fulfil a mission together.

When the 'mission' becomes something inward focused, that's when communities become controlling, manipulative, and altogether weird.

A lot of churches are so focused on their own growth and simply stand for nothing else besides themselves and their brand. It's all about their building, their beliefs, their community, that it becomes exclusive and often downright nasty. In other words, they become self-absorbed.

Many of us know these kinds of communities all too well. If you don't dress like them, talk like them, or think like them you are an outcast. Often you can be branded as someone who is going straight to hell.

Other church communities, while externally showing an inclusiveness through programs and the like, turn out to be just as self-absorbed because the programs and all that are just there to increase the church's numbers. In other words, there is no reality and there are no relationships. The aim is just to have more people in the community, but nothing really more than that. They just want to look 'successful'. Yet community is not community unless there are real relationships in place.

The Church was never meant to focus on itself but is always supposed to focus on two things – Jesus and his mission in this world. If we look at Jesus in the Bible we see he was on a very different mission compared to many of these self-absorbed churches out there.

He was on a mission to bring healing, love, acceptance and reality to people's lives. He still is. Sometimes Jesus is offensive as well, but his offensive love is often only offensive because we don't know what real love looks like.

I'm sure we offend our kids in a big way when we discipline them or we tell it to them straight. They often need to be told certain things in no uncertain terms. It's because we love them that we do that. There's no reason to think God shouldn't love us just the same.

Don't let the weird communities of church take away from the beauty and real purpose of it. Believe it or not, there are church communities out there that know how to love and be real.

The Church is made up of people of all kinds, regardless of race; interests; abilities; backgrounds; income; education; or anything else that usually divides people. There are certain things that are not good for the joy of the community, and these usually relate to what people do, but each relationship must be worked out in context.

Man is not an island and needs others around to truly enjoy life. We need community to enjoy life as we need friendships and people who we can link arm-in-arm with on a single mission. It's one of the principal joys of life.

Since I found Church to be a community or a family, not an institution, I cannot express what a joy it has added to my life. Yes, there are problems with people in the Church and there are often relational things that need to be sorted out. But I would rather have that and sort out the relational problems than be an island for the rest of my life.

Besides, if there aren't any relationship problems that crop up from time to time, I seriously ask if there is any reality to those relationships? No real relationships are without a tussle now and then.

Again, the fleeting displeasure of needing to sort out a relational issue (and it can be fleeting if you manage it well and early enough) is worth it for the long-term pleasure of enjoying friends and being involved with a community, doing something together.

For many, breaking the mindset that the Church is an institution or even a building can take a long time. This breaking of the mindset is generally not helped by many in the Church and churches which function as an institution. This is an incredibly unfortunate reality to what people have done, along with their own ambitions, to what God intended.

Nevertheless, God has been faithful and community is even found in some institutional churches as much as non-institutional churches. If one cannot find this community, one may then need to step out and take a risk and start a home-church, which is really just when a bunch of people meet together at someone's home to worship together and form community, and get on with the mission of the gospel – Jesus' mission - together.

House churches are common in countries where Christianity cannot be openly practiced, and they work very well under these conditions.

Whatever the case, iron sharpens iron and therefore we need each other. Lone-ranger Christianity doesn't work, and lone-ranger Christian Hedonism doesn't line up to the idea of seeking for enjoyment in God either.

God loves his Church, his people, very dearly, and therefore we should too if we're Christians. It wouldn't make sense for anyone to claim they love God but not also love the things he loves. Since he loves the Church, and he also goes to church as the Holy Spirit, we really don't have an excuse not to go.

Humanism teaches us that the community, if there is going to be one, is there to serve me and my needs. If I get offended I must leave. But most relationships are stronger after an offense has been dealt with. And I'm not just there for my own needs, I'm there to provide value to the lives of others as well, fulfilling their need for community too.

If we claim we are hedonists, well then we should go and meet together with a church and get involved. For there is more joy there than being alone. We could not claim we were true hedonists if we didn't!

Generosity and hospitality

Again and again, the generosity and hospitality of people I know in the Church has astounded and humbled me. I cannot explain how this has affected me as a person, and humbled me over and over again. Being humbled in this way is also a truly wonderful feeling, which may seem strange but it's true.

The way I have been loved by people of all kinds and leaders in the church has blown my mind away. Yes, I've had my fair share of tussles with leaders and others, but the commitment they have shown to me and our relationship to sort these things out has been unbelievable.

The fact that a particular pastor made it his goal to actually help me find direction in my life when I was without any idea of where I should go is amazing. I didn't ask for it, he offered it, and as a result I'm a writer today and enjoying life more than ever. Plus, I have a much clearer idea of where Shannon and I are going.

I've seen how others live without this kind of community in their lives and, frankly, it must suck. They have to wander their lives without much knowledge of where they should go, what will bring them true joy and how to get it. So many people have no purpose in life and they have no friends and leaders to gather around them and give them direction, with a heart to see them go further than they have.

This is an unfortunate reality for many people and I believe if people really asked God for a community, friends and leaders to surround them in this way, they would get it.

But there are things we need to work out in our hearts too, and we also need to decide whether we will be committed to the community, friends and leaders. We need to decide if we will accept their input or be arrogant about ourselves. But the cost of that commitment is nothing compared to the rewards.

I believe church is a big part of enjoying our lives. Without it we miss out on an incredible amount that we actually can't afford to miss out on. We will also find ourselves wandering from one place to the next, from one life purpose to another, without really knowing where we are going and always feeling as if we're not making a difference.

We do need to feel as if we are making a difference, and we all actually need leaders in our lives. Once we can be led, we can lead others. We are not really ready to lead others if we cannot be led ourselves. The church community is the best place for this to work itself out, under the covering and protection of God Himself, and with unbelievable friendships being formed.

Since this book is about being alive I believe church is an integral piece of the puzzle. Don't discount it because of past experiences or other people's stories. If you remember that it is not an institution and not a building, if you remember that it was never meant to be weird and self-absorbed, then you will definitely be on the right track in finding the right kind of church where all these things I have spoken about can be enjoyed.

Question: What's your impression of church? What if that's not what God intended church to be? Why not risk it with churches and see that it can be different?

*****

Chapter 10: The Book of Joy

This chapter is about the Bible. I've put it last because this topic can seem irrelevant at first, but now that I've presented my case and hopefully convinced you that there is a new way to live it makes sense to talk about this.

It's worthwhile to give a little bit of background to the Christian Bible, or the Scriptures as I like to call it. This is because there are so many misconceptions about it.

The Bible is basically 66 books written by about 40 authors and written over a period of a few thousand years. It's quite amazing that all of these authors had obvious different backgrounds and cultures, yet the central message of the Bible doesn't change.

Now what I am about to say next is important when considering the Bible.

I really believe that the Bible is inspired by God, meaning that what we read in it is what God has decided to reveal to us. But he hasn't revealed _everything_ , so I don't pretend that the Bible has all the answers to _absolutely everything_.

This means that you will not find the Physics and Science that brought the universe into existence in Genesis 1 and 2. The purposes of these scriptures is not to highlight the Science behind how God created, but the fact that _God_ created and he created for certain reasons. The overall purpose is to reveal God, not the exact method of creation.

This is why arguments around Evolution and the Bible are generally fruitless. One must understand the context behind why Genesis 1 and 2 were written, and then one gets a better idea as to its purpose.

This also means that the Bible is not a word-for-word history book. An example of what I mean here would center around the books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Jesus probably spoke in Aramaic and Greek at the time, but we see that his phrasings and wordings are a little different through each of these books. These are not word-for-word writings of _exactly_ what Jesus said. These are _accounts_ of what he said from different perspectives and people remembering what he said. In all four, the overall central message remains the same, but taken from different perspectives.

That's why the Bible requires lots of study to get to understand it better, but this doesn't mean that it's difficult to understand. Its simplicity is precisely what gets the back up of many scholars and learned people. A talking snake is _too_ simple – it's more like a children's story - and therefore they feel the Bible lacks credibility.

I'm not going to get into an argument over talking snakes in this book as it isn't the forum for it, and more than enough people have written about this topic in detail. However, my point in this chapter is around what the Bible's purpose is and why this contributes greatly to our enjoyment of life.

The Bible's main purpose is to reveal Jesus Christ to us, who is the Son of God. From Genesis to Revelation its main purpose is to show Jesus. Check what Jesus says in John 5: 39, 40:

"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about _me_ , yet you refuse to come to me that you may have _life_."

People still make the same mistake these days about the Bible. They either try and use it as some book of principles that will help them get through life, or a book of do's and don'ts, rights and wrongs.

While it may help us get through life its point is to _give_ us life, by pointing to the person who gives life – and life abundantly (John 10:10) – Jesus. That's better than just 'getting through' life!

A book about do's and don'ts, or rights and wrongs, is also only half-right. Morals are not about right and wrong as much as they are about what is truly good (for us) and what is wicked, or evil (for us).

The morals outlined in the Scriptures are designed and given so that we can really enjoy our life. Wickedness brings death, righteousness brings life. Life entails being able to feel and enjoy, death entails, well, death. That's why God says in Deuteronomy 30:15 -

"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today."

Morality is not without substance. It is not important because of principles, it's important because of _substance_. One kind of lifestyle leads to one direction, another to a different direction. The lifestyle outlined by Jesus in the Scriptures leads to one of peace and contentment, which is ultimately found in him. The antithesis to this lifestyle and to him is obviously the opposite of what God gives, which is life. So the antithesis leads to death.

As the creator, he is the one that gives and sustains life; when one does not abide with the creator, in fellowship with him (as we were designed to be), death is the result.

The Bible shows us Jesus through various ways and one of these is to reveal God's heart towards us. Its purpose is to help us know God closely – we can know his ways, his heart, and who he is through reading the Scriptures.

His ways are ways of life. The conclusion is that the Scriptures are there to help us see this, and the study and reading of them contributes greatly to our enjoyment of life as we get to know him better and learn to trust him more.

It's obvious that not only do the Scriptures help us know God better, but his Holy Spirit as well. When one decides to trust Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live in them, and he will guide them into all truth (John 16:13). So we have something more than just a book, we have a real relationship.

The fact is that the Scriptures are there so we can learn what the Holy Spirit would probably say, and what he probably would not say. So when someone comes with some new bright idea for living that confuses us, we have the Scriptures to refer to.

The New Testament and the Old

The Bible should be read through the lens of the New Testament. In my opinion it should most notably be read through the lens of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as these give us more insight into Jesus himself, with the other books making more sense of these.

If I was printing Bibles I would print them with the New Testament in the front and the Old Testament in the back, whereas now it is the other way around. Most people start from Genesis and I don't think it's really the best place to start. If you have never read the Bible or you think it's irrelevant, my suggestion is start with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and give these a good couple of reads first before you get into anything else.

Christian Hedonism and the Bible

With everything in mind that I've written in this book, I believe that the Bible is a thoroughly hedonistic collection of books. That's why I call it the Book of Joy. God invites us at all places in the Scriptures to find our absolute pleasure and joy in him – to pursue pleasure, and find it in him. Jesus says if we're thirsty we should drink, if we're weary he will give us rest. God promises major delights through what he has revealed to us in the Scriptures, and it has become a thorough and life-giving collection of books that sustain and teach me.

I think that when one looks at the Bible while trying to understand the context that each book was written in, the relevance of the Scriptures begins to shine in our present day context. Truly, nothing has changed. Human beings still have the same longing for joy as they always have, they're still eating in the same slums, and the answer for joy is still found in God as it always has been. The Scriptures serve as a reminder of this.

One should never make the Bible more than God, in the sense that we lose the heart of it – that it intends to have us know Jesus. There are many Christians out there with some great head knowledge of the Bible, but really not much substance in their own lives. The Bible only has authority because God gives it authority, otherwise it carries no authority on its own.

As has been said many times, "One Scripture lived is better than a thousand memorised." This is true. I believe we should approach the Scriptures in a simple and humble way, seeking to find out how we can truly live.

If we understand that it's life we can get from the Bible by letting it point us to Jesus, who gives the life, and we read it by trusting Jesus to reveal what it says; and if we remember that the Bible is not just about principles or moral codes; it can all make a great deal more sense and it can really speak to our heart, like it's supposed to, because we understand the greater scheme of things. Otherwise we cannot see the forest for the trees.

We should also try to approach the Bible more as a narrative than a bullet-point list of facts, moral codes, and principles. While it may be able to give us these things, it doesn't always, and truth is often better related and understood in the context of story. That's why the Bible is not written in bullet-point.

One of the deepest joys of my life is uncovering the Scriptures, as again and again I just discover more and more joy and treasure in this awesome collection of books. One day a scripture might mean nothing to me, the next day it might mean all to me. This is how the Holy Spirit uses the Bible to lead us and guide us. I get great encouragement about discovering the treasures in the Bible through a verse in Proverbs 25 (vs 2):

"It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out."

Many people get frustrated with the Bible because to 'search things out' requires a lot of effort. It does require effort, but the joy one finds when going through the effort far outweighs the actual effort, to the point that the effort itself can often become its own kind of joy!

Approach it simply

So while there is great depth in the Bible that doesn't mean it's complicated or complex. We're not using it to crack the codes of life and the universe's most complex philosophical questions. We're using it more as a love letter given to us by God.

I reiterate this because a lot of Bible 'teachers' have elevated their ideas or interpretations of the Bible more than the Bible itself. So they'll say things to us like, "The Bible says this or that" but all they're teaching us is their interpretation of what the Bible says.

They may very well be right, but they can also very well be wrong. It's when guys aren't humble about their own limitations of understanding everything the Bible says that we start seeing all sorts of weird religious fundamentalism beginning.

It's also when people elevate the Bible higher than God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit that we see weird fundamentalism forming. They make God's commands more important than God's heart, and miss seeing his heart in his commands.

One key thing to remember

It's key to remember that the Bible is primarily written for those who believe in Jesus, not for those who don't. It's important to also remember that the main thrust of that is to encourage believers to go for the best in their life.

Very often scriptures that have been traditionally used to condemn people are actually the very ones that are supposed to encourage us. We've got to see it from a Father perspective. Once we come under fatherhood we are sons and daughters forever. A son and daughter is always a son and daughter, regardless of how far they run away.

This means that once we have decided to believe in Jesus, we shouldn't worry about whether or not we actually do believe in Jesus, or whether we believe enough to be 'saved'. That's sorted out. Scriptures that talk about living morally are there so we can reap abundant rewards in this life for living morally. This is why I think the Bible is a very hedonistic book in many ways.

There is also a sense in which we are living to attain rewards in the next life.

So the final point here is that we shouldn't look at moral commands in the Bible as if they're for all people. They're for Christians alone. We also shouldn't look at them as if failure to do them results in us going to hell. We should rather see them as God encouraging us to 'go for gold' as it were and enjoy our lives to the fullest, by living them in the way he created them to be lived.

We have to remember that talk of sowing and reaping in the Bible must be thought about and processed under an understanding of fatherhood, grace, mercy and love. Sowing and reaping without these things translates into a system of Karma.

If we approach the Bible with the presupposition that it is imposing another system of Karma with all of its moral encouragements we'll only ever see it that way. But if we approach it with presuppositions of grace, fatherhood and love we'll see that the moral encouragements are very, very different. Under grace we do not always, every single time, reap what we sow. But there is an element that if we sow to God, seeking for our contentment in him, we will reap God and the pleasures he gives us. 11 That's a very different way of approaching the idea of sowing and reaping because it isn't under the context of a system it's under a new context of relationship.

There is a lot more that could be said and no doubt there are a lot of questions. But for the scope of this book this is enough. There is a way we can access the life the Bible points us to, and that is to come into a relationship with Jesus, just like I outlined in Chapter Three of this book.

Question: Do you find the Bible difficult or condemning? Could it be perhaps because society has told you to approach it in that way and in a very skeptical way? Is there any reason to believe society has got it right?

And do we think the Bible is trying to answer every philosophical and scientific question humankind has ever had? Why? What if it isn't?

*****

Chapter 11: Weak Desires

Perhaps the best way to close this book is to quote C.S. Lewis. In _The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses_ , Lewis talks about how God finds our desires not too strong _but too weak._ We fool about with drink and sex and unhealthy ambition when God is offering us infinite joy, much like a child who wants to continue making mud pies in a slum because they don't understand what is meant when they are offered a holiday at the sea. In the end, _we're too easily pleased_.

Enjoying life is simply about enjoying God, then everything falls into place. Ambition, money, sex, whatever else this world offers is not it – not the thing our hearts long for. Joy, peace, contentment and real qualitative and quantitative pleasure is not found in these things. These things are only good and wonderful when they are used correctly; and some things the world offers are not actually wonderful at all.

Is there any reason why we should remain under the slavery of the world's systems and philosophies that result in us having to constantly make life work? What has Humanism done for us lately? What has Kantianism done for us lately? What has Karma done for us lately? My answer is nothing. Each of these puts us under bondage and cause us to live lives that are empty in every single way. To know God, really know him, is the only way to being alive. This is my belief and my experience. I'm no longer under the systems of this world I'm now under fatherhood. And let me tell you, it's _good_. _Very_ good.

To seek hedonistically for pleasure in God is what we need to do to enjoy living, to truly be alive. In my opinion, this is what we're all looking for. Wherever I am or whatever situation I'm in I know this one thing: I can be content right now, this very moment, if I just choose to seek for my contentment, peace, joy and pleasure in God.

Then everything changes because, best of all, I change. More than often I change slowly but when I look back on the years the change is incredible.

There really is a better way to live and it's wonderful.

I truly not only feel it but I now also _know_ it – I am _alive_.

###

References and Credits

**1.** Michka Assayas, _Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas_ , (Riverhead Hardcover, 2005). (Go back)

**2.** <http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn>. Last accessed 15 Nov 2009. (Go back)

**3.** I believe the Puritans have gotten a bit of an unfair reputation but I'm using this phrase because it just makes it easier to understand. (Go back)

**4.** Songwriters: Greenwood, Colin Charles; Yorke, Thomas; Greenwood, Jonathan Richa; O'Brien, Edward John; Selway, Philip. (Go back)

**5.** The Greek word is _makarios_. (Go back)

**6.** Blaise Pascal, _Pascal's Pensées_ , trans. by W. F. Trotter (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1958), p. 113 (thought #425). Taken from the Desiring God website, http://www.desiringgod.org. (Go back)

**7.** I'm grateful to the American author and pastor John Piper for the term 'Christian Hedonism' and a lot of the philosophy and theology explained in this book. (Go back)

**8.** Jesus is using tax collectors as an example as they were generally a very corrupted bunch at the time. (Go back)

**9.** See http://ryanpeterwrites.com. (Go back)

**10.** C.S. Lewis, _The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe_. HarperCollins Publishers, ISBN 9780006716877. (Go back)

**11.** This is one way I would explain Galatians 6 vs 7. (Go back)

About Ryan Peter

Ryan Peter is a South African writer of theology, philosophy and speculative fiction. His other works include the fantasy series _The Rise of the Kings_. _When Twins War_ , the first prelude in the series, is due for release mid-2011. He has also written a book on singleness aptly entitled _Single_ and blogs regularly at his website.

Ryan and his wife, Shannon, serve as leaders for various ministries at their local church. They live in Johannesburg.

Ryan's website: www.ryanpeterwrites.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/RyanPeterWrites

Twitter: www.twitter.com/RyanPeterWrites

Smashwords: <http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/RyanPeter>
