September 28, our good is His glory. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and

pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you,

Matthew 6, 6. One common objection to Christian hedonism is that it puts the interests of man above

the glory of God. They put 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, we endorse the resolution of the young Jonathan Edwards resolved. To endeavor to

obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can, with all the power,

might, vigor and vehemence, yea, violence, I am capable of or can bring myself to exert in any way

that can be thought of. But we have learned from the Bible and from Edwards,

that God's interest is to magnify the fullness of His glory by spilling over

in mercy to us, to us sinners who desperately need Him.

Therefore, the pursuit of our interest and our happiness, even if it costs us our lives,

is never above God's interest and God's happiness and God's glory.

But always in God's. One of the most precious truths in the Bible is that God's greatest interest

is to glorify the wealth of His grace by making sinners happy in Him.

When we humble ourselves like little children and put on no heirs of self-sufficiency,

but 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 become one.

When Jesus promises in Matthew 6.6, your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

This is a reward He wants us to seek. He does not lure us with joy we shouldn't have.

But this reward, this joy, is the overflow of turning away from human praise and going into our

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