The Joy Project: A True Story of Inescapable Happiness

The Joy Project. A True Story of Inescapable Happiness.
by Tony Reinke

“True happiness is not found. It finds you” (p. 97).

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We think of our chase for joy as a fundamental right — and it’s no surprise. By nature we are pleasure-seekers, though chronically unsuccessful at finding the type of joy that will endure for more than a passing moment.

But what if long-lasting joy isn’t found at all? What if the deepest and most durable happiness breaks into our lives, overcomes our boredom, and ultimately finds us? What if true joy is out of our reach, but reaches for us?

Read on...

“From all eternity, before all time, God was alive with volcanic joy. Joy is essential to the very nature of God in the fellowship of the infinitely happy and holy Trinity. God needs nothing. He has no deficiencies. He is free from all evil and full of all good. So what does God’s eternal, unbounded, overflowing joy mean for me? For you? The Joy Project takes us into the most profound story in the universe, retold in a short book by Tony Reinke — a very thoughtful and skilled writer you can trust and enjoy.” –John Piper, Founder and Teacher, desiringGod.org; Chancellor, Bethlehem College & Seminary, Minneapolis, Minnesota

“At the end of a restless day we look to the self-help gurus, but they can only give us magnifying glasses to gaze more deeply into our own navels. Lift your sights through The Joy Project, and rejoice to read that joy is actually coming for you.”
–Gloria Furman, author, Glimpses of Grace and Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full

“Our eyes of flesh seek joy in the wrong places, define it with a bankrupt vocabulary, and settle for it using mistaken formulas. Because we don’t know what to do but try harder and hide our shame, we get stuck and sick, depressed and despondent. This dehumanizes us, discourages us, and defeats us. But there is hope! The Joy Project is applied reformed theology at its best.” –Rosaria Butterfield, author, Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert

“What do you get when you combine Gretchen Ruben’s The Happiness Project with the Five Points of Calvinism and Tony Reinke’s compelling writing? You’re looking at it. It sounds like a weird and unworkable combination, but it works well and results in an outstandingly beautiful presentation of the doctrines of grace. This is the most beautiful presentation of Calvinism I’ve ever read.” –David Murray, Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Seminary and Pastor of Grand Rapids Free Reformed Church

“We all want joy and happiness — but they seem such elusive things. We reach for them and fall, we aim and miss. For me that’s because I make them dependent on me: how I’m doing, how I’m feeling. Tony Reinke shows a far sweeter way, a way to solid joy.” –Michael Reeves, author of Rejoicing in Christ