More on Self-Interest

I can't get over the instances of self-interest among Christians, and that, in the best possible sense: seeking one's own pleasure in God. John Piper quotes David Brainerd, a missionary and a man of God.

[Brainerd says that] "love is a pleasing passion; it affords pleasure to the mind where it is" But the object of love is never that pleasure. The object is God and the love is pleasurable. This is why it is confusing at times when we speak of seeking pleasure. It sounds as though pleasure has taken the place of God. But this is not the case. As Brainerd says, God's glory and our happiness become one common interest. We week pleasure in God. Not from God.

John Piper, Desiring God, p.209n12.