WHAT IS THE ROOT OF OUR JOY?

at September 9, 2026

Recently I came across a very thought provoking quotation from John Piper. I had to stop and think about what Piper was saying. I am sure you too would be compelled to stop and think about it. John Piper asks three questions as follows…
– “What is the deepest root of your joy? What God gives to you? Or what God is to you?” – John Piper

In these three simple and straightforward questions, John Piper disarms and dismantles all our ideas and thoughts about God, ourselves and the our heart. The questions appear simple, but they are loaded questions. They cut our hearts to the very core, and make us think about what we truly and deeply desire.

– “WHAT IS THE DEEPEST ROOT OF YOUR JOY?” – What is the deepest and the most significant source of all the joy that we experience in our lives? – is the question we are called to ask ourselves.

– “WHAT GOD GIVES TO YOU?” – Is the deepest root and the most significant source of our joy is from ‘What God gives us?’ Do things that God graciously gives to us are the source of all our joy? 

– “OR WHAT GOD IS TO YOU?” – Is the deepest root of all our joy is God Himself, and not anything or anyone else, even if they are given to us graciously by God Himself? This is the most important among all the three questions. 

What John Piper is trying to address is not only important, but is essential for our proper Christian foundation. If God Himself is not the deepest source of all our joy, but instead, the gifts that He so graciously bestows upon us become the source of our joy, then there is something seriously wrong with everything in our lives. 
– “7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,” – Philippians 3:7-10

We should be passionately and single-mindedly pursue God and seek to be filled with Him. We ought to passionately pursue to worship God for who He is, whether we receive anything from Him or not. The deepest root of our joy should be God Himself and not His gifts.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us pause for a moment this morning, and ask ourselves the three questions that John Piper asks. Let us answer them with all sincerity and with all seriousness. Even so, the LORD Jesus help us.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

…our salvation is happening to us and all the gifts of God are coming to us that we might know God, love God, treasure God, be satisfied in God. The biblical answer to the question, “What is my ultimate deepest source of joy?” is not his gifts. It’s him, known and enjoyed in and through his gifts.

– – John Piper