It is radically humbling to confess that the source of all our joy resides outside ourselves.

I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term than to gain a distaste for it because of a superior satisfaction in God." Desiring God, 12.

In other words, in all my rejoicing over all the good things that God has made, God himself is the heart of my joy, the gladness of my joy. In all my rejoicing in everything, there is a central rejoicing in God. Every joy that does not have God as its central gladness is a hollow joy and in the end will burst like a bubble. This is what led Augustine to pray, "He loves thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for thy sake."2

What is the chief aim of man? Man's chief aim is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

God will be glorified both by the intensity of the present delight that we have in his beauty and by the intensity of the desires we have for more revelation of his fullness.

Third, I define loving  God mainly as treasuring God. That is, it is an experience of cherishing, delighting, admiring, and valuing.

The great old catechism asks, "What is the chief end of man?" and answers, "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." Enjoying God is the way to glorify God, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

The strength of our desire is not the measure of the strength of the final pleasure.

The great end of all study--all theology--is a heart for God and a life of holiness. The great goal of all Edwards's work was the glory of God. And the greatest thing I have ever learned from Edwards, and the driving vision of this book, is that God is glorified most not merely by being known, nor by merely being dutifully obeyed, but by being enjoyed in the knowing and the obeying.

The fight for joy is the fight to see and believe Christ as more to be desired than the promises of sin.

Delighting in God was not a mere preference or option in life; it was our joyful duty and should be the single passion of our lives. Therefore to resolve to maximize his happiness in God was to resolve to show him more glorious than all other sources of happiness. Seeking happiness in God and glorifying God were the same.

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.5