Joy

Not long ago, I had posted my own thought on the chapter "Love" from John Piper's Desiring God. Then, a friend sent me an e-mail regarding things that John had learnt from his dad. I posted the e-mail content just before this one. Anyway, I thought John in his book was proposing what to do when we dont feel like loving others. I mentioned in my last post that the concept that Piper was teaching is new to me but when I read what He learnt from his dad, I found that the concept was not new.

The part about joy in things John had learnt from his dad:

3. Happiness is not found by looking for it. You stumble over happiness on the road to duty.

My, my, my. How was John Piper born from this? I would never say this. The main reason is that the Bible commands us to pursue our joy repeatedly. “Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say rejoice.” “Delight yourself in the Lord.” I think what he meant was: 1) Joy is always in something. Joy itself is not the something. So we seek joy in Christ. Not just joy in general. 2) When duty is hard and we do not feel joy in doing it, we should still do it, and pray that in the doing it the joy would be given. But what we need to make plain is that duty cannot be contrasted with joy, because joy is a biblical duty.

He emphasised that when we dont feel like loving others, we should do it anyway, praying to God as we do it that He will give us joy. Joy is a biblical duty, we have to have joy in what we are doing. Previously, I had thought that when I dont have joy in showing love to others, I should refrain from doing the "duty" and pray to God for joy. Once the joy filled my heart, then I shall go about loving others. I dunno...I think Piper is saying that we shouldnt refrain from loving others eventhough we dont feel like it but ask God for joy. Feel free to help me out.