Augustine on Joy
One of my favorite quotations from Augustine makes him sound like a 4th century version of John Piper. But it is rich and has fostored numerous hours of meditative reflection: There is a joy which is not given to the ungodly, but to those who love You for Your own sake, whose joy You Yourself are. And this is the happy life, to rejoice in You, of You, for You. This is true joy and there is no other ( Confessions , Book X. Sec. 22). First, notice that this joy has a very specific source or origin: loving God for His own sake. The implication is clear. There is no real joy from loving God for what one can get out of Him. That's the "ungodly" or pagan approach. Use the gods who use you. But this God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is unlike any other god in the marketplace. "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart" (1 Ki...