Prayer

One common objection to Christian Hedonism is that it puts the interests of man above the glory of God—that it puts my happiness above God’s honor. But Christian Hedonism most emphatically does not do this.

To be sure, we Christian Hedonists endeavor to pursue our interest and our happiness with all our might. Even if it costs us our lives.

But we have learned from the Bible that God’s interest—God’s good pleasure—is to magnify the fullness of his glory by spilling over in mercy to us. Therefore, the pursuit of our interest and our happiness is never above God’s but always in God’s. The most precious truth in the Bible is that God’s greatest interest is to glorify the wealth of his grace by making sinners happy in him—in him! And when we are most happy in him, not in this world, he is most honored in us.

When we humble ourselves like little children, put on no airs of self-sufficiency, and run happily into the joy of our Father’s embrace, the glory of his grace is magnified and the longing of our soul is satisfied. Our interest and his glory are one. Therefore, Christian Hedonists do not put their happiness above God’s glory when they pursue happiness in him.

One piece of evidence that the pursuit of our joy and the pursuit of God’s glory are meant to be one and the same is the teaching of Jesus on prayer in the Gospel of John. The two key sayings are in John 14:13 and 16:24. The one shows that prayer is the pursuit of God’s glory. The other shows that prayer is the pursuit of our joy.

In John 14:13, Jesus says, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (ESV).” In 16:24, he says, “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full (ESV).” The unity of these two goals—the glory of God and the joy of his children—is clearly preserved in the act of prayer. Therefore, Christian Hedonists will be people devoted to earnest prayer. Just as the thirsty deer kneels down to drink at the brook, so the characteristic posture of the Christian Hedonist is on his knees.

Once again, hear Jesus’s words in John 14:13: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (ESV).” Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify your friend if a stranger came to see you? Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him?

No! You would say, “Friend, please come lift me up, and would you put a pillow behind me so I can look at my guest? And would you please put my glasses on for me?” And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind. You glorify your friend by needing him, asking him for help, and counting on him. Yes, and by speaking well of him.

In John 15:5, Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (ESV).” So we really are paralyzed. Without Christ, we are capable of no good. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “Nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh (ESV).”

But according to John 15:5, God intends for us to do something good—namely, bear fruit. So as our strong and reliable friend—“I have called you friends” (John 15:15, ESV)—he promises to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. How then do we glorify him? Jesus gives the answer in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you (ESV).” We pray! We ask God to do for us through Christ what we can’t do for ourselves—bear fruit. Jesus gives the result: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit” (15:8, ESV). So how is God glorified by prayer? Prayer is the open admission that, without Christ, we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as wealthy and wise and kind.