so you ARE saying me that I can't go to the toilet for a [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] without thanking God
Actually, if memory serves, Orthodox Jews thank God for that very thing every day. And why would they not? Can you imagine how short and painful life would be if we couldn't get rid of the toxins/waste that our bodies create
Hello Ben, "Christian Hedonism" is a somewhat unfortunate term, IMHO (because of what "hedonism" normally means). That said, I understand why Piper uses it. Here is his explanation:
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-christian-hedonism
And here's one of his illustrations from that article that will help clarify what he means by it:
An Illustration from Marriage
So, as an illustration: It’s my anniversary. I say to Noel, “I am going to take you out tonight, because it is our 47th anniversary, and spending the night with you would make me really happy.”
No wife has ever said, nor would Noel ever say, “You are so selfish. All you think about is yourself. It makes you happy taking me out and spending the evening with me.” No wife ever complains that is selfish. Why? Because if I pursue my full satisfaction in my wife, she is honored. So it is with God. If we are drawn to God because we want to spend time with God, if God is our treasure and our satisfaction, God is honored.
This truth — God is most glorified in us, or Christ is most magnified in us, when we are most satisfied with Him — is not peripheral. This is not peripheral to the Christian life or peripheral to the book of Philippians. This is right at the heart of what it means to be a believer, what it means to belong to Jesus Christ, what it means to treasure and trust Jesus Christ. This is not icing on the cake of Christianity. This is at the heart of Christianity.
Is seems to me that Piper is speaking about growth in/a lifelong pursuit of something wonderfully fulfilling for him as a Christian, a Christian "ideal" if you will, ~
not~ obedience to a command (IOW, not a "MUST" do kind of thing as you seem to be describing in your OP).
Just to be clear however, doing "
all to the glory of God" is a Biblical admonishment/command that is both stated and implied throughout the Bible. For instance:
1 Corinthians 10
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Hoping to put a different spin on all of this for you, here is one of my favorite verses in the Bible (it's a command with a promise, actually):
Psalms 37
4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Take time to consider what that verse is telling us (especially the first 1/2, which is the only part of that verse that we need to focus on). Just to be clear, our concern is to delight "ourselves" in Him,
not to "delight Him" (so that He will give us what we want in return for doing so, like some kind of Cosmic Sugar-Daddy might .. as if the relationship He wants to have with us amounts to nothing more than a
quid pro quo ).
Simply put, the key to understanding Psalm 37:4 and the Christian life is this, we are to chase after Him,
not after the things we desire .. e.g
Matthew 6:33.
Yours and His,
David
p.s. - The Christian life is not about what we do for God, it's all about Him, which certainly includes growing in the knowledge, understanding and wonder of all of that He has done/is doing/will do for all of us who are His .. cf
2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:28; Philippians 1:6; 2:13; Hebrews 7:25