Why is it important for us to enjoy God in the Christian life?

Dr. Joel Beeke highlights three reasons why enjoying God is significant. Firstly, it is our duty. Glorifying God and enjoying Him are intertwined. By lifting Him up and giving Him His rightful due, we experience the delight of being in His presence. Enjoying God is an inseparable part of real life, and it is our responsibility to engage in this joyful communion with Him.

Secondly, enjoying God serves as our strength. The joy of the Lord empowers us. As Nehemiah proclaimed, "The joy of the Lord is our strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). When we find delight in the Lord, we become strong in our faith. This strength enables us to face various challenges, including afflictions, criticisms, and difficult times. The joy derived from our relationship with God, nurtured through His Word, gives us the resilience to overcome the obstacles we encounter.

Lastly, enjoying God in holiness is not only our duty and strength but also our future. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Our enjoyment of God in a holy manner aligns with the purpose of heaven. It prepares us to meet God and be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Our lives on Earth serve as a preparation for that great day when we will stand before Him. This perspective underscores the critical nature of enjoying God in holiness.

Psalm 37:4 resonates with the theme of delighting in the Lord: "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart."

So, why does it really matter if we enjoy God in the Christian life? Westminster's Shorter Catechism puts it this way, our chief purpose in life is to glorify God and to enjoy Him, and to enjoy Him. So three reasons. One, it's our duty, it's our duty to enjoy God. That's why He made us.

Glorifying God is essentially lifting Him up, and as we do so, we enjoy Him because we're giving Him His rightful due. One of the psalmist says, serve the Lord with gladness, delight thyself also in the Lord. That's what we have to understand. Life is inseparable, real life is inseparable from enjoying God. So, first of all, it's your duty.

Secondly, enjoying God is our strength. Our strength. Nehemiah said, the joy of the Lord, Nehemiah 8 verse 10, the joy of the Lord is our strength. When you enjoy the Lord, you are a strong Christian at that very point. You see, because then you have means and strength to cope with affliction, cope with criticism, cope with sad times, cope even with diseases, because your enjoyment of God through His Word, preached and read and lived, is worth more than all the obstacles of life that come in the way.

So God seasons us and prunes us and matures us through life's trials so that we may enjoy Him the more. And thirdly, without holiness no man shall see the Lord. And so this enjoying God in holiness is the business of heaven. It's not only our duty and our strength, but it's our future. My dad used to always pray, Lord prepare us to meet thee, clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that our lives be nothing else but a preparation for that great day.

And so this is critical.