Pure Pleasure

This is a book review on the book “Pure Pleasure” by Gary Thomas. 

To begin with I should say that I was not expecting the book I received.  I have never read anything by Gary Thomas and I did not know what to expect.  I have read books from Zondervan and I do know that some of the books they publish could be better.  With the title Pure Pleasure I was expecting a book about the prosperity gospel in that when you come to Christ He will give you all of desires of your heart.  If you name it you can claim it, but what I got was a slap in the face. 

Gary Thomas has written a phenomenal in Pure Pleasure.  This book is almost like Gary Thomas’ view of Christian Hedonism from John Piper. He points out in the book that true pleasure comes only from Christ.  One thing that I really enjoyed about this book is that he didn’t leave the singles out.  Many married authors write to those in the same boat and yet Thomas didn’t do that, which was delightful. You can get the book by clicking here or the image to the left or from Amazon by clicking here. 

Here are others that are part of this blog tour as well. 

 

A Peek at My Bookshelf
A Spacious Place
Admissions of a Suburban Philosopher
Arkansas Dreams
Blog Tour Spot
Bound to His Heart
Carlybird’s Home
Cindy’s Book Reviews
Covenant Life Christian Church
Deus E Fiel
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made 
iamhealed.net
Karen R. Evans
Krellfish
Lighthouse Academy
Musings
Musings by Lynn
Ponderings by Andrea
Quiverfullfamily.com
Real Hurts, Real Hope
Real Women Scrap
Refresh My Soul
The 160-acre Woods

I was sent this book for free by the publisher and was not paid in any way to  give a good review on this book.

Nothing in Particular

It has been a while since I have updated this. Much has happened since Thanksgiving. To begin with, I have finished all of my classes for this semester. I hope that I have passed all of my classes. The only class I am worried about is me Spanish 3 class, which is the only class I really need to pass. I feel very confident that I passed the rest of my classes. At the moment I am in Florida with my cousins on vacation. I have been reading books while here.

The first book is Desiring God by John Piper. To begin with, this book has challenged me beyond all reason in how I think about my relationship with Christ. The entire book is full of amazing thoughts on Christian living and how Christians Hedonists are the ones that will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Hedonism is a living for pleasure. Christian Hedonism in living for pleasure in Christ. One of the statements in the books that has stood out the most is a reply to why John Piper would not say that those that believe will inherit the kingdom of God.

His reply was “My answer has two parts. First. we are surrounded by unconverted people on the street who think they do believe in Jesus. Drunks on the street say they believe. Unmarried people sleeping together say they believe. Elderly people who haven’t sought worship or fellowship for forty years say they believe. All kinds of lukewarm, world-loving people church attenders say they believe. The world abounds with millions of unconverted people who say they believe in Jesus… This leads to the second part of my answer. There are other straightforward biblical commands besides ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.’ The reason for introducing the idea of Christian Hedonism is to force these commands to our attention.”

How often do I, as a Christian, delight myself in the Lord. How often do I seek after the Lord. How often do I love the Lord with all my heart soul and mind. The answer is a resounding “not as often as I should.” Instead, I seek after my own hearts desire, seek after my own prideful desires, love myself with my all and reject what God has to give. When we do this Piper explains it like us “playing with mud and making mud cakes when the are offered a cruise.” God has offered us so much more when we follow him and yet we choose to reject His gifts and His love and His forgiveness and His grace and His everything. Instead, we play with our mud cakes and continue to play in our own sin.

I don’t know if this post will encourage you, as readers, or if it will challenge others.  I certainly hope it does both.  As I stated in the first paragraph this books is certainly challenging me beyond anything that has challenged me previously.  I am humbled by how often I treat my creator like trash, when I deserve worse then even Hell could offer.  Oh how graceful God is to allow His son to die for me so that I can have a relationship with Him.