When I Don't Desire God

2005 Regional Conference

Christian joy is the satisfaction in God that sustains the believer through any trial. Jesus endured the cross by pursuing this joy, and we too may find, by God’s grace, that delighting in him is our only, but entirely sufficient, hope in sorrow. The pursuit of this pleasure in God is not a frivolous chasing after fleeting pleasures, but a rock-solid, mature, and truly happy, Christ-exalting endeavor.

What if we believe this but our emotions do not motivate us to seek God? Such is the continual struggle of sanctification. We must fight for joy, because delight in God is the hallmark of Christianity. But it is also a gift only given by God’s grace. What, then, does it mean to fight for what can only be freely given? In these messages, John Piper answers this over- arching question and others on both a deeply spiritual level and the most practical, so that when you don’t desire God you will know how to fight for joy.

Listen to these messages online.