“Many Christians think stoicism is a good antidote to sensuality. It isn’t. It is hopelessly weak and ineffective. Willpower religion usually fails, and even when it succeeds, it gets glory for the will, not for God. It produces legalists, not lovers. ” (In Our Joy by John Piper, p 35)
“Our natural tendency is to think that if Jesus tells us to do something and makes this a condition for entering the kingdom of God and having eternal life, he will then stand back and merely watch to see if we will do it. We don’t naturally think that if he demands something, he will enable us to do it.” (p 66)
I’m afraid that people often misunderstand that being a Christian is about being good, or at least try to be good. New believers may think that once they accept Jesus, they will now have to obey a set of rules. This is not what Jesus teaches.
Jesus wants us to enjoy life, truly enjoy life, and he knows that without him, we cannot. The stuff of the world that seem to satisfy will always disappoint.
Being a Christian is to get to know our Lord Jesus, and trust him to help us do those things that he teaches us to do that are counterintuitive to our old nature, and in doing so, we get further away from sin and find our ultimate happiness in him.