Duty vs Pleasure

So I guess I am a missionary, and people often look to missionaries and pastors as the role-models for following duty.  Missionaries don’t take vacations or relax because they are always on mission and have a duty to do.  They would be selfish to pursue their own pleasure in a place where so many people need their help, right?

I say a resounding NO.  From Piper:

“As Christian Hedonists we know that everyone longs for happiness. And we will never tell them to deny or repress that desire. It is never a problem to want to be satisfied. The problem is being satisfied too easily. We believe that everyone who longs for satisfaction should no longer seek it from money or power or lust, but should come glut their soul-hunger on the grace of God. We will bend all our effort, by the Holy Spirit, to persuade people

• that they can be happier in giving than receiving (Acts 20:35);

• that they should count everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus their Lord (Philippians 3:8);

• that the aim of all of Jesus’ commandments is that their joy be full (John 15:11);

• that if they delight themselves in the Lord he will give them the desire of their heart (Psalm 37:4);

• that there is great gain in godliness with contentment (1 Timothy 6:6);

• and that the joy of the Lord is their strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

We will not try to motivate anyone with appeals to mere duty. We will tell them that in God’s presence is full and lasting joy (Psalm 16:11) and our only duty is to come to him, seeking this pleasure.”

So yeah, we have fun.  We do our duty too, but we actually enjoy it.